Some Assembly Required
by Belcris
Summary: Naruto won! Whoops! Guess I spoke too soon because he's about to die in the middle of the battlefield when Kurama interferes. Now in a world unlike any he's ever seen before, Naruto will strive to be better. Did I forget he's met a girl that is strangely familiar? Avengers! Assemble!
1. Prologue

**Some Assembly Required**

_By: Belcris_

_Summary: Naruto won! Whoops! Guess I spoke too soon because he's about to die in the middle of the battlefield when Kurama interferes. Now in a world unlike any he's ever seen before, Naruto will strive to be better. Avengers! Assemble!_

_Naruto created by: Masashi Kishimoto_

_The Avengers, associated characters, and damn near the world is owned by Marvel & Disney. (Please, don't sue me, Micky!)_

_I do not own these characters and I do not seek to profit from this story._

_However, in a dark and twisted future I may own it, but I will instantly be killed by a mutant rabbit named Francis, who will then go on to return all the rights to the original owners._

_Damn you, Francis!_

_WARNING: This story contains scenes of fantasy based violence, a hint of gender bending, Tony flirting with anything and everything in a skirt (including one guy named Trixie), an uptight Steve, moody Bruce, and Natalia looking hot as hell in a skin tight battle suit. You have been warned._

_Category: AU. Adventure. Romance. _

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**Prologue: Kurama's choice**

The war was over and the final enemy defeated, but the cost was heavy. The dead could be counted in the thousands, entire villages having burned and been wiped from existence. Everyone had paid the price for the dreams of a madman, but some had paid more than others. In the center of a battlefield lay the badly injured body of a young man. His golden hair only partly visible thanks to all the blood that was currently covering it. It was only when a lone figure arrived at the scene and rolled him over that you could see almost half his head was missing.

"No!" screamed the figure, doing everything in her power to save the life of the man she loved. "You can't give up on me now! NARUTO!"

Deep inside what was left of the young man's mind a figure was working frantically to save his host. Normally the figure would have been able to heal his host from almost any injury, but their final battle together had taxed even his massive reserves of chakra. As frustrating as it was, they were dying and there seemed no way to stop it. It was only by sheer willpower alone that he was able to keep the boy's heart beating and blood regenerating, but eventually even that would fail. There was a way, a slim chance, but it would require a sacrifice to accomplish and the fox was afraid of what it would cost him.

**"Naruto!" **bellowed Kurama as he watched the sewers around him crumble. **"We can't die like this!"**

They had defeated their greatest enemy, but the final attack had destroyed the entire right side of Naruto's head. The physical injuries could be repaired, that was not an issue for Kurama, but the massive amounts of chakra needed to do it, all the while keeping Naruto alive with so much of his brain missing would require Kurama sacrificing part of himself. The very chakra that he was made from could be used to heal his host, but he would never regain it and would be diminished by the sacrifice. Was he really willing to give up that much of himself for the young man? They had been enemies, unwilling allies, and finally partners and friends. Not since the Sage of the Six Paths had Kurama respected anyone as much as he now respected his host. So, yes, he would make the sacrifice if it meant Naruto Uzumaki would live, but there were some problems to overcome.

The first problem, maybe the simplest one to deal with, would be making sure that Naruto came back as the same person he was before. Kurama could do it, he just had to use his own memories of Naruto's life to rebuild the kid's memories. However that led to the second problem, the fact that Naruto had experienced some very traumatic things over the last few months and Kurama feared that his own memories of the events would change Naruto for the worse. He thought it might be best if Naruto did not remember those things, at least not right away. Naruto could always learn of them later, from people that could better explain it to him rather than learn it from a jaded old fox who admittedly could care less half the time. Yes, better that Naruto forget those things for now, a head injury was a perfect excuse for not remembering a few months of your life.

The third problem, and maybe the worst of the lot, was the simple fact that using that much of his chakra to save Naruto was probably going to cause some major issues for the young man. Not only would Naruto never be "normal" again, he would be more than human after this was all over, he might very well end up becoming a half demon or possibly something completely different. Let's not even mention the fact that Kurama could detect there were several strange seals all over the surrounding area and while he could not see them, he could tell they were still active. He had no way of knowing what would happen when they were exposed to his chakra in such high quantities.

**"Not that it fucking matters," **growled the fox. ** "I either do it, or we're both dead. Not really a choice."**

Outside of Naruto's mind, a young woman worked franticly to save the young man from dying. She had been forcing her chakra into his head wound for a while now, thankful that his heart was still beating, but she was exhausted and time was against her. She was loosing him, the man she loved, and she could not imagine a world without him. Looking around she realized there was no other living being near them, no one she could ask for help from. As she felt the last of her useable chakra fade, leaving her on the verge of passing out, she decided that it was better to die with her love than to live without him. So, gently laying his head in her lap, she pulled a kunai from the pouch on her thigh and prepared to join Naruto in death. The tip of the blade held over her heart, waiting for the instant his breathing stopped so they would travel together, she was surprised when Naruto's hand shot up and pulled the blade away from her chest.

**"Please, don't do that,"** said a voice so deep, so malevolent, that she shuddered as she watched Naruto's remaining eye open to reveal that it was red and slitted like a cats. **"If you do that, he's not going to be very happy when he wakes up."**

"Kyubi?" asked the young woman, terrified that the demon had finally taken control of the man she loved. "Please, don't take him away from me."

**"I don't intend to, girl,"** replied the fox through Naruto's lips. **"In fact, I'm going to do everything in my power to bring him back."**

"Why?"

Kyubi seemed to think about that for a moment before answering, **"I have only ever respected two people. Naruto and one other. It was not within my power to save the other, but it is within my power to save the kit. So, I will."**

"And what do you get out of it?" she asked, afraid of what the cost of Naruto's life might be.

**"Nothing," **replied the fox as his chakra started to leak from Naruto's wounds. ** "In fact, I'm the one paying the price for this. When this is over, I'll be a shadow of my former self, while he will be something more than he was before. He'll still be him, I can't do anything about that, but physically he will be changed."**

Now she was worried and asked, "How will you change him? Haven't you done enough to him?"

**"I wanted to be free," **replied the beast, his temper rising. **"Was that really so much to ask for, to be free and to live a life as I saw fit rather than being caged? Can you honestly say you would not have fought against your jailer if you were in the same position as I?"**

Hanging her head, hating what her answer had to be, she nodded. "Yes, I would have fought back."

**"Then you can understand that what I'm doing now I do of my own free will, sacrificing part of myself to give Naruto back what I have taken from him in the past,"** said the fox, closing Naruto's eye. **"Now, let me do what I need to. I suggest you get away from here, as far as you can, because this is going to be dangerous to be near."**

"Promise me that you'll return him to me?"

Opening his eye once again, Kyubi looked up at the beautiful young woman. **"I promise that I won't give up, just like he wouldn't. Now I ask a promise of you. Should I fail, you will not give up either. You will live your life and be happy, because even if I fail, he will be watching over you and waiting for you after you've lived a long and happy life. Promise me this, for his sake."**

"I promise," she whispered, leaning down and kissing Naruto's bloody cheek before slipping out from underneath him and turning to run. "Don't you dare give up!"

With that, she turned and ran. She ran as fast as she could, which was not as fast as normal because she had already used up all the chakra she could possibly spare. It was a fight, a constant battle, to keep her legs moving until finally she could fight no more and stumbling, she crashed to the ground. Looking over her shoulder she was surprised at how far she had traveled, almost five hundred yards if her guess was right. She hoped it would be far enough, but as the darkness claimed her and she slipped into unconsciousness, she prayed to Kami above to return her love to her.

Anyone that was watching from a distance would have seen the sudden ball of red demonic chakra that appeared around the body of Naruto Uzumaki. What they also would have seen were seven seals suddenly glow white and form a second shroud around Naruto's body. It lasted for several minutes before the blinding white light faded, leaving nothing behind. Naruto was gone, as was a large section of the ground around him. All that remained was a crater, roughly one hundred yards across and fifty yards deep, but with no trace of Naruto anywhere to been seen. Several hundred yards away from the crater a young woman slept, she would not wake up for a full day, but she would dream.

She dreamed of a boy with sapphire blue eyes and golden hair laughing and smiling in a world unlike their own. In that world he was a hero, just as he had been in this one. He would find comrades to fight at his side and a woman to love that saw him for who he really was. In the dream he fought against terrible armies and lone madmen, but always he fought to protect those he considered precious to him. Over time the dream showed him coming to consider the entire world precious. The one thing it did not show her was the young man ever giving up.

When she awoke the next day, she found the crater where Naruto had been and weeped for what might have been, but remembered her promise. She carried the news of Naruto's victory over his enemies back to their village, telling everyone he had died that they all might live. Some took it harder than others, but everyone felt the world was a little colder and darker without Naruto there to brighten if for them. She told everyone that asked about Kyubi's attempt to save him and how it had failed, making sure they all realized that in the end the so called monster had laid its life down attempting to return Naruto to them.

It was several weeks later when several young women were sorting through Naruto's thing when they found the Toad Summoning Contract hidden under his bed. They took it to the new Hokage and asked what was to be done with it. The Hokage decided that in the interest of the village's security, a new Toad Summoner should be selected. At first the decision was met with some rather heated arguments, but eventually a young genin was selected. He reminded many people of the previous two summoners as he was the dead last of his class, but showed remarkable potential. When the Hokage opened the scroll to allow the boy to sign, there was a gasp from several of the people present at what they saw. Naruto's name, which should have turned black upon his death, was still red, though it seemed faded. The boy chosen to select to sign the contract was urged to hurry up and do just that, so they might ask the toads what this meant.

It took weeks before the boy was able to summon anything other than a tadpole, but when he did the Hokage instantly asked that the small toad carry a message back to Mount Myoboku that they needed to speak with one of the Elder Toads. It took a while, and a large amount of candy, but eventually the Elders were summoned. They refused to speak at first, insisting that their new summoner be tested first, a test he thankfully passed, before they would speak of what they knew. What they had to say would shock many and give hope to others.

"The boy is not dead," Pa said with a smile. "He's too far away for us to reach him, but he's still alive. Where he might be, I have no idea as it is beyond anywhere we can reach. Still, if I know him, he's fighting the good fight even now."

"Can you bring him back?" asked the Hokage and several other people all at once.

Pa just shook his head with a frown. "No, we can no longer reach him. Don't you worry about the boy, the Great Toad Sage says he is where he needs to be and that his time here is done."

That night, one young woman sat on the roof of her home looking up at the stars with a smile on her face. Although she was saddened that she would never see him again, she was happy that Naruto was still alive out there, somewhere. She only hoped that wherever he was, he was happy and living a good life. As she drifted off to sleep that night under the stars, she dreamed of Naruto and his adventures. She watched him become the man she always knew he could be and she smiled knowing that he would never give up.

True to her promise, she also never gave up.

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AN: I leave it up to you to figure out who the young woman was. I already know, but she won't play a role in this story, so imagine to your heart's content.

This story is already completed, so don't bother giving ideas or suggestions for pairings as this prologue was the last thing written.

Hope you enjoy, hold on for what I hope will be an enjoyable ride.

Chris :)


	2. Chapter 1: Stranger in a Strange Land

**Chapter One: Stranger in a strange land**

This was not how Naruto had planned his life to turn out. No, not by any means had he thought he would end up in a situation like this. If this were the afterlife, he was really disappointed because there was no endless supply of ramen and no sign of any of the people he had lost and hoped to see again someday. It rather made sense that this might be the afterlife, he did remember they were in a war and he figured he could have died fighting, though that was a little too tame for his tastes. Truth be told, he had rather hoped he would end up dying of dehydration after a week long sex marathon including Sakura, Hinata, and Shion. Unfortunately, that had never happened, damned the luck, and Naruto now found himself in a strange place that was nothing like his home. Nothing was right, not the sounds, sights or even the smells. Everything seemed to have taken a little detour concerning reality right after he and his partner Kurama, better known as Kyubi, teamed up to fight the last fight. The details were a bit fuzzy, in fact a good portion of the last few years were fuzzy or just plain missing.

Naruto had woken up laying in the middle of a large wooded area, but it was a strange forest considering he could hear the sound of machines in the distance and everything looked just a little too neat to be natural. Sure enough, after taking to the trees and getting as high as he could, Naruto was surprised to find that he was in the middle of the largest village he had ever seen. The place made Amegakure seem tiny by comparison, with buildings reaching so high into the sky that one or two of them seemed to actually be touching the clouds. It was just crazy to him that anyone could build something that big.

What also drove him crazy was the smell. The air was thick, oily almost, and left an aftertaste in his mouth like a mix of burning rubber and sewage. You could almost see the air around you, so filled with smoke and steam, not to mention the overpowering smell of people. Oh were there people. He could hear them from where he was at and that was a good two hundred yards from the nearest paved road. It was enough to give him a headache, lets not even mention the fact that for the first time in his life not even the thought of ramen sounded good to him. It just turned his stomach like the bad milk he often had in his refrigerator.

Naruto had spent a week hiding out in the strange forest trying to figure out what was going on before he remembered the secret behind training with his clones. Since waking up here in this place, Naruto had been having a hard time remembering clearly what had happened to him over the last few years. Everything was clear to him up until his return to Konoha after his training trip with Jiraiya, but after that there were larger and larger voids in his memories that he couldn't explain. Not many things really scared Naruto, except ghost stories and Sakura at that time of the month, but the thought that he was losing his memory terrified him. He was looking through his travel scroll when he found his journal.

Jiraiya had told him the day after they left for the three year training trip that everyone should keep a journal, then handed Naruto a leather bound orange book with nothing but blank pages. Every night for the next three years he had written down his thoughts about the day and a summary of what he had learned. After his return to Konoha, he had continued the practice as it seemed to give him a way to focus his mind and thoughts, giving him some measure of peace. So, sitting in a tree in the middle of a strange artificial wood, Naruto read about his own life for the past several years. He laughed and cried as the memories slowly came back to him, at least more than he had before. Only once did he think about burning the journal, afraid to read anymore and that was with the knowledge that his mentor and godfather was dead. He wept that night, probably the first time he could remember truly crying since he was a small child. When he awoke the next morning he made a promise to himself not to forget Jiraiya and to do everything in his power to make the man's dream of peace come true.

Naruto finished reading his journal, thankful that he had written in such great detail about his training and the things he had learned over the last few years. He sealed the journal away and began planning what to do now. Information was the key, so he needed to learn about where he was and what was going on. Only sending clones out to learn what they could about where he was at, Naruto spent much of the next few days training in secret at night. In that time he learned that this was a much rougher and less polite place than he had ever seen before. Out of an original fifty clones he had sent out to reconnoiter, five were shot, two were stabbed, three were almost robbed by bandits, and ten were groped by several men and women alike. It was a little scary, to say the very least. Luckily, the second batch of clones had better luck and he was getting an idea of how to act in this world.

Not far from his current location the clones had stumbled across an area where the people spoke a variation of one of the languages Naruto had learned during his training trip with Jiraiya. Over the course of the next week Naruto, thanks to his clones, was able to learn the new language and start getting some information about what the hell was going on. It was slow going at first, splitting his time between training himself and having clones henged to look like his friends and the people he had met during his journeys learn the new language. Eventually he felt comfortable enough that he felt it was time he personally stepped out of the woods and into this new world. Once again using henge to disguise himself, Naruto began his new journey.

As it turned out, Naruto was currently in a city named New York, in the state of New York, in the country of United States of America. When he got his hands on a map of the place he had nearly shit himself. The place was huge, the city alone was larger than the Fire Country and when you looked at the bigger map of the country, you could have fit all the known Elemental Countries on the eastern seacoast of United States of America. The scale was just beyond anything Naruto had ever dealt with before. When he learned that people needed machines to get from place to place in a decent amount of time, he had fully understood that this could not be his world.

Several attempts at contacting Kurama for help had failed. It was only when he finally ventured into his mindscape that he figured out why. The fox, or what was left of it, was now about the size of a puppy and was so deeply asleep that even screaming in Kurama's ear had failed to wake him. The other major difference were the pipes that represented his and Kurama's chakra. Where before they had been large, maybe as big around as his waist, now they were HUGE. The smallest one he found was wider than he was tall, with all the rest being larger than the largest tree trunks he had ever seen. It was crazy, pure insanity, that he could have that much chakra in his system, but the proof was right in front of him. Oh and just to add to the madness, he now had two other sets of pipes, one green and one white. He assumed the green ones represented nature chakra and the white ones represented the combination of his and Kurama's, but that was just a theory until the fox woke up and explained it to him.

It was another two weeks before Naruto realized that as things stood, he was ill prepared to survive in this new world. The cold hard truth was that unlike his own world, here he was going to need money and identification papers if he was going to function in this new land. Money wasn't a major issue for him considering he had about five hundred gold Ryo in his wallet, his good old faithful Gama-kun, and another ten thousand he had hidden in a seal on the back of his headband. A little research, not the perverted kind, had revealed that pure gold was worth a lot here in this land and that was going to work out well for him.

A visit to a "pawn shop" and the loss of twenty Ryo had earned him almost four thousand American Dollars, barely half what they were worth, but he couldn't be picky when he was trying to keep a low profile. Thankfully he had taken to the roofs right after leaving the shop as the owner had sent two thugs after him, clearly with the intent to get the rest of Naruto's coins and the man's money back from him. Too bad for them that he was long gone by the time they thought to look up at the roof above them. Naruto was positive he could have handled them in a straight up fight, but that would have drawn attention he didn't need, so it was better to run and hide for now.

As he was still living in the trees of Central Park, that was what the people called the forest in the middle of the city, Naruto only used his money for things he really needed like take out food and toiletries. Oh how he had missed toilet paper and toothpaste. Don't even get him started on bath soap and laundry detergent. The discovery of what a laundromat was still ranked up there on his "Thank Kami!" list. It was while he was doing laundry one night that he met his current employer.

Mister Sasaki owned a small Japanese restaurant near the park that was in serious need of a delivery boy. Now considering Japanese was a dead on match for Naruto's natural language and the fact that the old man was willing to pay him cash for his work, the young shinobi felt he was in luck. By the next afternoon he was driving a beat up scooter around Manhattan delivering food to offices and apartment buildings. This worked out for him because Naruto's first delivery was to a library. Not just any library, but the biggest damned library he had ever seen in his life. By that night he was living in an empty room in the place and his clones were reading everything they could get their hands on all day long, each henged into a random person Naruto saw around the city. Jiraiya had told him that knowledge was power, and Naruto was thinking this was a sign from Kami above that it was time to live up to that advice.

He read EVERYTHING he got his hands on, it might have been against his basic nature, but you didn't always get what you wanted. From masterpieces of literature to crappy tabloids, Naruto read it. This world's history? He memorized it. Scientific treaties on the most esoteric theories? He soaked them up. It took him two months and more clones than there were people in the city, but he read the entire contents of the library including several of the rare books stored away from public view. What he learned was both wondrous and heart breaking, but it was worth it in the end as at least now he had an idea as to what he needed to do if he was going to live in this world. The first step was to create a background for himself and get identity papers. That wouldn't be so hard if he cashed in a few more Ryo and found the right people.

It took him another month to make the contacts he needed. Finding the right sort of people was easy as just like in his world, the underworld figures he needed were always easy to find if you knew where to look. Thankful again for Jiraiya's training, Naruto traded money and favors for the paperwork he needed. He wasn't thrilled with working for crime lords, but with the proper application of skill and henge, he was able to get away with his morals intact and even prevented a few innocent people from having to suffer. In the end Naruto was the proud owner of a set of identification papers that would at least allow him to rent an apartment rather than living in a dusty old attic. That was when he met HER!

He had just rented a relatively nice studio apartment in the Bronx and was in the process of moving in when he got ran over by a black and orange blur with long blonde hair and blue eyes. A shouted apology as the young woman ran down the street was all he got out of her that first meeting, but something inside him said he should know who the mysterious girl was. He pushed the thought away until later that day when he was looking at the mailboxes in the entryway. The name listed for apartment 4A, the one right across from his own, was N. Namikaze. Ok, that got his interest considering that was the last name of his father, but it was the little chibi figure next to the name that drew his attention. It was the tiny female figure with the big smile, pigtails, and throwing up a peace sign that really had him wondering what the hell was going on.

That night after he finished setting up his apartment and made some ramen for diner, Naruto climbed the fire escape to the roof. He might not be able to see the stars as well here as he had back in Konoha, but it was peaceful up on the roof and that had to count for something. He had just finished his ramen when he heard someone opening the stairwell access door. Not sure if he was actually allowed up on the roof, Naruto dashed for a shadowy corner and waited to see who was coming. Much to his surprise, it was the same girl that had run him over earlier in the day. What was even more surprising was that he recognized her. Boy, did he recognize her, as he had seen her up close and personal on many occasions. There, the illusion made flesh, was a woman that was the perfect embodiment of his first original jutsu, the Sexy no Jutsu.

She was about his hight with long blonde hair, tied back in two pigtails, that still managed to hang down to her waist. Her eyes were a perfect match for his own sapphire blue eyes, though her eyes seemed much larger than his own. While his face was harsh and squared off, her's was soft and heart shaped. Where he was broad shouldered and muscular, she was slim and shapely. Very shapely considering the tight black bicycle shorts and skintight t-shirt she was wearing left very little to the imagination. He would have thought the whole outfit was painted on if he hadn't watched the hem of her shirt move up and down as she walked closer to the center of the roof. It was just really freaky to watch a female version of himself that wasn't one of his clones walking around.

He watched her for several minutes as she took a seat on one of the brick half walls, looking up at the sky and sighing a great deal. He was just about to sneak away when she started talking. Even with his enhanced senses he could not hear her at first, but then she started speaking louder. He was rather freaked out when she started talking to someone, but a moment later he figured it out. She was talking to her parents and from the sound of it they had been dead for a long time. Something else it seemed the had in common.

"Well, I got fired again," she was saying, just loud enough for Naruto to hear it. "My boss got a little grabby this afternoon and decided the place his hands needed to be was on my ass. I wasn't going to stand for that, so I hauled off and hit him in the nose. Broke the damn thing and had him laying on the ground crying like a little bitch as I tossed my order pad at him and headed for my locker. By the time I was changed and on my way out the door he was screaming how I was fired and would never work for him again. I'm not sure, I thought he figured out I quit, but fired works just as well. Looks like I'm heading to the unemployment office again. I hope you aren't too disappointed in me, guys."

She seemed to think of something as she looked back up at the sky. "Oh, and I really need to find the guy I knocked over this morning. I feel real bad about that, but I was running late and could only say sorry as I ran down the street. I didn't get a good look at him, but he looked familiar, not to mention cute. Mom, I swear, I just saw his back for a moment, but he's got the broadest shoulders I've ever seen. Talk about hot!"

Naruto was blushing when he heard that, deciding it might be a good thing to make himself scarce before he heard anything that really embarrassed him. Now Naruto was never a firm believer in a Kami, or fate, or any of that stuff and maybe what happened next was their way of saying, "Yes, we do exist." He was just getting ready to leap off the side of the building and head back to his apartment through the front door when his foot slipped on something and he found himself laying face first on the roof. The shriek that followed his slip was followed a second later by the sound of someone diving behind something. Naruto looked up and found two pigtails sticking out over the top of the wall the girl had been sitting on a moment before.

"You know, I can see you," he said with a chuckle as he sat up. "I'm really sorry I scared you. See, I just moved in today and didn't know if we were allowed up here, so I kind of hid when I heard you come up. You were having a private moment and I didn't want to interrupt, so I was just going to leave and let you have your privacy. Unfortunately, my feet decided I needed to lay down and forgot to mention it to my head. Sorry."

This all tumbled out of his mouth in one long exhalation as he was sitting up and rubbing the back of his head, feeling more than a little embarrassed. "Basically, I'm an idiot, and I'm sorry. I'll go."

"Wait," she called as he got up and turned to leave. "Who are you?"

Turning back around with a look of embarrassment, Naruto replied, "Sorry, forgot the manners my baa-chan tried to teach me. My name is Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. Like I said, I just moved in today. I think we actually met this morning, though you were in kind of a hurry at the time."

The young woman finally stuck her head up to look over the half wall allowing Naruto to get a better look at her. He noticed her pigtails were set above and a little behind her ears, giving her a young and innocent look. He also noticed that her bangs hung down, almost completely covering her eyes which made him think she was hiding behind them. She had a cute little nose that almost begged for someone to kiss the tip. She wore a little frown on her full lips, which Naruto noticed were a natural dark pink. All in all, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Part of his mind reminded him she was a dead ringer for himself when he used the Sexy no Jutsu which the only thing that kept him from falling in love with her right that very moment.

"I'm really sorry about that," she said, her voice sounding like something an angel would be jealous of. "I was running late. I really didn't mean to knock you over."

"Hey, I've been late a time or twelve myself, so no worries," Naruto instantly replied, wondering why his cheeks felt warm when she smiled at him. "How about we start over? Forget about this morning and tonight?"

Walking over, and out into the moonlight, Naruto held out a hand to the young woman with a warm smile on his face. "Like I said, I'm Naruto and I live here now. What's your name?"

The young woman gasped, when she saw him, her cheeks getting darker in the moonlight as she stood up and took Naruto's hand. "This is going to sound odd, but we've almost got the same name. My name is Naruko. Naruko Namikaze and it's a pleasure to meet you, Naruto."

"Namikaze?" he asked, going pale at the sound of the name. "My father's last name was Namikaze."

Naruko looked a bit shocked by that news, saying, "Wow, I thought it was just a made up name? You mean it's a real family? Do you think we are related?"

"Ummm... Probably not since I think my dad's family was from an isolated village in Japan," replied Naruto, once again wondering about the chances of her being a female version of him in this world. "Still, we can be friends, so that's got to count for something, right?"

They spent several hours up on the roof talking that night. They shared bits and pieces of their lives, surprised at how much they had in common and while Naruto could not tell her all the details of his life, he could share some of it. As it turned out, they were both orphans as he had thought. Naruko's parents, Shinji and Orohime Namikaze, had been killed when she was only a year old. The family had been living in Hawaii since shortly before Naruko's birth and had decided to vacation in New York shortly after her first birthday. Unfortunately, there had been a car accident and both her parents were killed. As she had no other blood relations, Naruko was put into foster care until she was old enough to apply for emancipation when she turned sixteen. As she had money from her parents to live on, she had moved into the apartment she still lived in and finished of high school locally. After graduation she had received a scholarship to attend Long Island University, majoring in Dance and Theater. Unfortunately even though she was able to live off campus and save money there, her scholarship had been cut due to the budget and she was having to work nights in order to pay her tuition. At the rate she was going now, she feared she would have to drop out as the money from her parents was going to run out soon and then she would have to work just to afford rent, forget about school.

Naruto, in a rare moment of understanding, hugged Naruko when she started to cry and found her sudden grip around his waist to be tighter than anything Tsunade or Sakura had ever managed. As she collected herself, Naruto told her about his history. He explained that he had been born and raised in a small village in Japan, only recently coming to the United States. He told her about how he was also an orphan, his parents being killed in a fire just an hour after his birth. He skipped over the nastier bits about his childhood, just telling her that he had lived alone most of his life. Naruko chuckled when he told her about how he never really paid attention in school, mainly because he spent so much time pranking people that "deserved it," but that as he grew older he realized he had a knack for learning things faster than other people. Finally he told her about how his village had been destroyed in a natural disaster, an earthquake, and that had led him to coming here.

"I left so quickly I didn't even really know where I was going until I got here," he said with a sad smile, knowing it was a half truth. "When I finally got my bearings, I lived off of what little savings I was able to bring with me, but that won't last forever."

He really wanted to tell her more, speaking half truths and whole lies just did not sit right with him, but the truth would have made him sound crazy. So, he told her about his life in New York since his arrival. He told her how he had found work and refined his language skills with the help of Mister Sasaki and the customers he delivered to. She commented that his English sounded almost perfect, save for a few things that were barely noticeable. Then he told her about how he was trying to find his niche in the world and how he wanted to help people, but just didn't know how he wanted to go about it. Naruko, who had yet to let go of him and was currently snuggling into his chest, admitted that she sometimes thought about ways to help people, but just didn't know what she could do.

"I'm just a girl who happens to be good at dancing," she mumbled, her voice sounding thick as if she were falling asleep. "I would like to do more, but what can I do? It's not like I'm a superhero..."

Naruto looked down to find Naruko blissfully asleep in his arms. He smiled as he watched her sleep. Realizing that it was quite late, Naruto scooped her up in his arms and carried her bridal style down the fire escape to his window. He made his way across his apartment, summoning a clone to open the door for him, but when he tried the door to her apartment he found it was locked. He sent the clone to her window, hoping it was unlocked, but the clone dispelled allowing him to see that the window was locked tight. Now normally he would have just had a clone pick the lock and go from there, but seeing as he did not want to freak Naruko out, so the only option he had was for her to stay in his apartment for the night.

Returning to his room, Naruto laid her down on his bed and covered her up. Going to the closet he pulled out a spare blanket and pillow he had purchased earlier that day and flopped down on his couch. It wasn't the biggest couch in the world, a fact proven when his feet hung over the end, but it would do for the night. The last thought in his mind as he drifted of to sleep was that for the first time ever a girl was sleeping in his bed and unfortunately he wasn't there to enjoy it. With that thought, he drifted off to sleep and enjoyed a night of dreams about Naruko and him walking hand in hand through the forests of Konoha.

The next morning he woke up when someone was gently poking his shoulder. Now it wasn't something that was well known, mostly because the situation had never presented itself before, but Naruto liked to cuddle. This combined with years of instincts drilled into him and after the poke he grabbed hold of the offending person, pulled them up tight against him, and then pulled the sheets over them both as he drifted off back to sleep. This lasted for all of about a minute as the person he had just pulled into his arms got her blushing under control before she managed to turn her head just enough to whisper in his ear.

"If you don't let me go by the time I count to ten, I'm going to have to stay here like this all day and never want to leave," said the voice of an angel.

"Warm," he mumbled, half asleep. "Sleep now. Wake up later."

"Naruto," said the voice again. "Are you wake?"

"No," he mumbled. "Pillow is loud. Pillow not supposed to be loud."

It was the giggle that pulled his mind from slumberland and into the waking world. "Wait a minute. Pillows don't talk and they don't have heartbeats. Oh crap."

Forcing his eyes open, Naruto came face to face with Naruko. The fact she was so close to his face that he could count her eyelashes was a bit startling. Add that to the devilish grin on her face, not to mention the very pretty blush, and he was fairly certain he was about to catch hell for this. Oh, did he forget to mention that one of Naruko's very long and shapely legs was currently laying across his hips and that his "Little Buddy" was awake and standing at attention. Not helping was the fact he had one hand resting on her thigh while the other was wrapped around her waist, meaning her rather ample chest was firmly pressed against his side, not helping the current issue with his "Little Buddy."

"Please, don't kill me?" he begged as he slowly removed his hands from their positions. "I plead stupidity and being a rather sound sleeper for anything I may have done. Sorry."

"Oh, I don't know," cooed Naruko. "I've rather enjoyed it, so far. I do have a question for you? Why am I in your apartment and why did I wake up in your bed?"

The fact she had not moved from her current position, in fact she was now resting her head against his chest on which she was tracing little circles with her fingers just confused the hell out of him. After a moment of thought, a tiny little sliver of time, he wrapped his arm back around her waist, though he did not put his other hand back on her thigh. Instead he laid his free hand on top of her's, stopping her from tracing those little spirals when she entwined her fingers with his. Once again, that little part of his mind that worried about things warned him that she was a dead ringer for himself as a woman, though he instantly ignored it.

"You fell asleep on the roof last night and your door was locked when I came down," he explained, enjoying the smell of her hair. "You seemed really out of it, so I just put you in my bed and crashed on the couch."

"I guess that makes sense," she murmured. "It's kind of my fault since I locked the door before heading to the roof."

"But if you locked the door, how were you going to get back in?" he asked. "No offense, but you don't really have any pockets in those shorts."

Naruko giggled, letting go of his hand for a moment before sliding her hand down towards his waist. For a moment he thought she was going to do something he wasn't sure he was ready for, but secretly really wished she would do. While she did not do what he thought she was going to do, he did feel her hand move between their hips for a moment before she brought it back up and showed that it now held a single key. His mind wandered to where that key must have been based on where she had just pulled it from and he envied that key.

"You're right, I don't have pockets in theses shorts," she explained with a little giggle. "That doesn't mean I didn't have someplace to keep my key."

The two of them talked for a little while, curled up on his couch and speaking in whispers. Naruto secretly wondered if this was what having a lover was like? Quiet moments spent together with no intention of doing anything else other than just being together. He had never had something like that before, not that he could remember at any rate. There were a lot of blanks in his memory that seemed to grow larger and larger after meeting his mother when he originally defeated Kurama. He knew he had won the war, but it was the details like who he had fought and how he won were a complete blank. So, for all he knew he had at some point had a moment like this before, but with Naruko at his side at the moment he realized it just didn't matter.

Eventually they said their goodbyes for the day, agreeing to see each other again that night. Thankfully it was still early, so neither of them had to skip work or classes. As Naruko left she kissed him on the cheek before closing the door to her apartment, leaving a blushing Naruto in the hallway with a grin on his face that did not fade all day long. Sure, there had been the occasional woman in his life that teased him, some were actually rather blunt about what they wanted, like Shion. The problem was, Naruto was clueless back then and considering how his life had been going in his own world, he probably would have remained that way until some young woman beat him over the head and forced him to realize what was going on.

It was only coming here, to this strange new world, that had forced him to grow up and open his eyes. It was amazing what someone could learn from reading and with the vast number of books his clones had read for him, Naruto had learned a lot. He had learned how to be a better person than he had been before. Most of all he had learned that women might find his naiveté to be cute at first, but eventually you either had to step up and make a move or you were going to end up alone. He might not be the man he wanted to be, yet, but he had a chance for a new life and he wasn't going to waste it acting the clueless buffoon.

That night Naruko made diner for them in her apartment. It was a cozy little place that seemed to fit her perfectly, not to mention he loved all the orange she seemed to have all over the place. It was only when he saw a picture of her parents, a tall man with sandy brown hair and a shorter woman with blonde hair and blue eyes that he let out a little sigh of relief, glad her parents hadn't looked like his. The thought that she might be this world's version of him had nagged him all day, but now it just seemed like dumb luck about her looks and name. Add the fact that when she invited him over she had been wearing a rather form fitting knee length black skirt, a tight white blouse with the top three buttons undone to reveal a hint of cleavage, black stockings that had a seam running up the back, and black high heals. Yeah, he was really glad her parents looked completely different than his because the thoughts going through his head should never, ever be about someone that could be related to him.

"Thank Kami," he mumbled as she walked over and grabbed them something to drink, the sway of her hips nearly making him drool.

Things kind of settled like that for a while. Naruto and Naruko would alternate nights at each other's apartments making diner and just hanging out. By unspoken agreement they had not really taken their relationship past cuddling and the occasional kiss on the cheek, both felt the other was the missing part of them they had always been looking for. Months passed like that and it was almost a year before things changed, as things always do. Naruto had attempted to get into college, hoping his fake identity would hold up and allow it, but when he saw the type of information they wanted he had been forced to give the idea up. This led to him spending more and more time training while Naruko was at school. His clones had never stopped training, but now he spent several hours physically training each day as well.

Oddly he barely had to work at all to keep his body in top condition as it seemed his body was just faster and stronger than it had ever been before. In fact, if he had to gauge his physical condition now he would have to say he was well past Kage level. Each day he pushed a little harder and each day he was surprised to discover that things he had once struggled with were quite easy for him now. His speed was phenomenal, exceeding anything he had ever achieved before. As for his strength, he kept trying to find his physical limit, but had yet to really find one. He quit trying one night when he attempted to lift a parked car one night and found it to be quite easy, almost too easy. The only thing he noticed was the slightest pull on his chakra, almost as if his subconscious mind was channeling chakra to his body without him having to focus on it. It was two night later when he found something to test himself against.

Naruto was working a double shift because the other delivery guy had quit that afternoon. Mr. Sasaki offered Naruto time and a half, plus a bonus for every on time delivery if only he would cover until the old man could hire somebody new the next day. After agreeing, Naruto called Naruko to explain he wouldn't be home till late and that she shouldn't wait up for him. It was his last delivery of the night to a guy working at the Apollo theater and Naruto wanted to get it done as quickly as possible because he had a bad feeling. He was just leaving the Apollo when his gut told him he was in deep shit. Sure enough, the biggest and ugliest thing he had ever seen suddenly started wreaking the place. The creature, he sure couldn't call it a guy considering it only barely looked human, started attacking anything that moved, whether it be people or cars.

Moving as fast as he could, Naruto started grabbing people and moving them to safety. Twice he had to jump in front of cars that were flying towards innocents on the street. Surprisingly enough, the cars did no damage to him, other than tearing his clothes in a couple places. He was starting to get pissed when something hit the ground behind him. A moment later another huge creature crawled out of the ground and attacked the first creature. Naruto backed off that point, not wanting to get between the two. Instead he sped around the area making sure no one got hurt, never realizing that the whole thing was being watched from multiple angles by several different government agencies.

By the time Naruto made it home that night he was a wreck. At last count he had saved over two hundred people from being crushed, burnt, or worse. He had eventually made about fifty clones to help him contain the damage before he went to find the two creatures that had caused all the chaos in the first place. It was all over save the crying when he did find them, so with the fight over he took to the roofs and hurried his way home. Calling Mr. Sasaki and explaining that his scooter had been destroyed, Naruto hoped the old man wouldn't fire him. Thankfully the whole thing had been on the television, so his boss accepted the story and stated he would rather Naruto be alive and the scooter dead rather than the other way around. Unfortunately, that's when he walked in his door and found Naruko crying on his bed. It seemed she had also been watching the news and knew Naruto was in that area. The fact his clothes were shredded but he was still in one piece was enough to satisfy her that he was alive, but the kiss she gave him was what really confirmed it.

That night after Naruko had fallen asleep in his arms, Naruto began to think about what he wanted from this new life. So far he hadn't really done much, other than leaning to drive a scooter and delivering a crap load of Chinese takeout all over the city. It struck him that as he often had in the past, he was wasting on opportunity to be a better person. He had read the entire contents of the New York Public Library, but had he really done anything with that new knowledge? No, he had ignored most of it, focusing only on the things that could be used immediately. He was being a knucklehead again, and this time he had no one to blame for himself. It was no wonder people had grown frustrated with him in his younger years, he kept overlooking the fact that he was only as skilled or as weak as he allowed himself to be. Right now, he was weak because he had not used the tools he had available to himself. As he looked at Naruko, mesmerized by the sight of her, he realized that he wanted to be more than he had ever been before. He wanted to be a good man, not just a boy with potential.

"I'm going to get better, Naruko," he whispered as he finally closed his eyes and began to drift off. "I've got a reason to, now."

* * *

**Naruko's Point of View**

(This point of view inspired by "Hello," performed by Martin Solveig & Dragonette.)

Naruko was leaning up against the door, listening until she heard the door across the hall close before she squealed and started jumping around the room. Not only was Naruto the cutest guy she had ever me, but he was so damned nice it just blew her away. Sure, she had been a bit freaked when she woke up in a strange bedroom, but the fact she was fully dressed and he was asleep on the couch rather then in bed with her was a good sign that nothing had happened. Oh, let's not forget when she tried to wake him up and he pulled her into his arms. Those incredible arms, attached to a chest that just screamed sexy even with a t-shirt on. She hadn't been kidding when she said she would have stayed right there all day long if she could have.

For the first time in her life she had felt really safe. She had lived in multiple foster homes before she turned eighteen. Some of them were great, but others had been less than stellar. The older she got, the worse it was, especially if there were men or boys already in the house. She had lost count of the number of times someone in one of her "families" had tried to put the moves on her. It had gotten to the point where she had basically given up on men, figuring she would either have to start batting for the home team or just get used to diner for one for the rest of her life. Then she met Naruto and it had all changed. In one night and part of a morning he had already changed her entire outlook on life. Then of course she had kissed his cheek.

"I kissed him!" she squealed, still jumping around the room as she remembered the sensation of her lips on his skin.

Part of her wanted to go right back over there and knock on his door until he answer. Then she would kiss him for real, but that might make her seem just a little too eager. Another part hoped her would be the one to knock on her door, with him being the one to sweep her of her feet and kiss her. She blushed at the thought of that as she grabbed clean clothes and headed towards the bathroom. Naruko was sure she was going to need an extra long shower today.

An hour later when she headed out to class, she debated on knocking on Naruto's door, but managed to stop herself and head to class. That didn't mean she was able to think of anything else that day as she attended classes and later went to look for a new job. She struck out on the job front, but was able to do some grocery shopping and decided to head home and make diner for them. Naruko was a fairly decent cook, God knows she had been required to do enough of it for her various foster families, so that wasn't an issue. However she wanted to really make an impression on Naruto, and the baggy jeans, faded hoodie, and worn out Keds were not going to make the impression she wanted.

As she started boiling noodles for the fettuccini alfredo she was making for tonight, she headed to her closet to see what she had available. She groaned as she realized she hadn't done laundry yet this week, leaving her closet rather barren save for a few odds and ends. That's when she remembered the skirt and blouse she had bought for a job interview that fell through. The outfit consisted of a knee length black pencil skirt she had bought at a thrift shop, a white blouse that she bought when she was waiting tables at a nicer restaurant, and her favorite pair of high heels that she hadn't worn in ages. Running back to check on water for the noodles, she grabbed the clothes and headed for the bathroom.

"Okay, granny panties and a plain boulder holder, not going to work with this outfit," she growled as she stripped off her clothes and looked in the mirror.

Rushing back out of the bathroom she skidded to a stop in front of her dresser, digging through her underwear drawer like a madwoman looking for the really good stuff she kept at the bottom. Black was out as the bra would show through the blouse, for later dates but not for first ones. The baby blue one was cute, too cute considering it had little white bows and lace trim, so not exactly what she was going for. That left two options, go without and just were the white lace panties she had, or she could wear the little white lace shelf bra that just barely kept her nipples covered. Pulling it out and looking at it, Naruko remembered the day she bought it and why.

Naruko was a few weeks away from turning sixteen and was to be a bridesmaid for her foster parent's only biological daughter, Emily. Emily was eighteen years old, seven months pregnant, ugly as sin, and marrying the drunken frat boy she had gotten knocked up by. Oh, she was also a complete bitch to Naruko for the entire two years she lived with them. Two years of effectively being a slave for their family and trying desperately to keep he foster-father's hands off her when he was drink. Emily had wanted Naruko to be in the wedding party, not because she had any genuine good intentions, but because she thought it would be fun to embarrass her. Out of the four bridesmaids, each girl had a different colored dress that matched the tuxedo of their date. Naruko's dress had been baby shit green and made her look more like a homeless woman than anything else. Knowing she couldn't get out of the wedding without making a scene, Naruko had agreed.

The day before the wedding she had decided that if she had to look ugly on the outside, she was going to be beautiful on the inside. On her way home from school the Friday before the wedding, she stopped by the local mall and headed for one of the nicer clothing stores there. She had seen the white lace shelf bra and matching thong panties in a clearance bin at the back of the store and decided they were exactly what she needed. The lingerie set had been a bit big on her at the time, a few safety pins had solved the problem at the time, and as she looked herself in the mirror the next day she had smiled, feeling truly beautiful for the first time ever. The next day she stood there, her hair a disaster thanks to the "stylist" her sister hired to do their hair, her dress still looking like crap, and everyone looking at her like she was a disgrace, but Naruko just smiled to herself. No matter what she looked like on the outside, she was beautiful on the inside.

"Yeah, I need this tonight," grabbing a new packet of stockings, she headed back to the bathroom to finish getting ready.

It didn't really take her long to get ready and once she was dressed she turned to look at the full length mirror on the back of the bathroom door. She looked beautiful, even if it was just her saying it. Now around the mirror were dozens of little multi-colored post-it notes. Each had different message that she read on a regular basis to make up for the things she had been told over the years. Normally she read them every morning, but she had been in a hurry this morning, forgetting them completely. The colorful notes looked so cheerful, but they represented her attempt to forget some of the darkest days of her life. They were her positive affirmations and were a part of what kept her sane.

"I am beautiful!"

"I am intelligent!"

"I am not a freak!"

"I am not fat!"

"People do like me!"

"I am talented!"

"I am a good person!"

"I will find someone to love me!"

Reading the last one, Naruko stopped and smiled as she touched it with her fingers and smiled. Her last foster family had always told her the day she moved out that she would never find anyone to love her and it had been the one that seemed to haunt her the most. Now, having met Naruto, she hoped that particular post-it would be coming off her mirror soon. She had felt a connection with him the night before and again that morning. His smile had filled her stomach with butterflies and made her heart flutter. Sure, there were some obstacles they would have to overcome, namely the fact that she wasn't exactly normal, but that was something she could deal with in time. After all, she had just met the guy, so telling him all her secrets on the first date was not high up on her list of things to do. Given time she might trust him with everything, but not right now. For right now, she just wanted to see if he was the one. Time would tell.

With a smile on her face, Naruko left the bathroom and headed for her door. "Time to make an impression."

* * *

AN: Welcome to my new story. I was recently reading a Naruto Manga while watching the Avengers movie and this idea popped into my head. Throwing caution to the wind, here it is. A crossover between Naruto and the Avengers. Seeing as how there are so many similar qualities between Naruto and the various members of the Avengers, it seemed a perfect mixture.

As for the pairing, yes, Naruko is the match for Naruto. No, they are not related, but how he discovers that will be revealed later on. No, I don't think she is a Mary Sue, being as flawed as everyone else. Does Naruto see her as perfect, despite her flaws, he sure does as that's the nature of love.

All the points of view added at the end of the chapters were inspired by different songs and I will list them each time. No, they are not mini-songfics.

Anyway, this story is already complete with me just going back to polish a bit before posting. I have the time right now to get them all ready for you, so chapters should post rather quickly with maybe one a day for a few days. No promises as life tends to dislike cocky promises like that, but we can hope.

Reviews are appreciated and flames will be used to line my cat's litter box. I'm not really writing this for you, but for me. I wanted to see if I could do it and I did.

Enough said for now.

Later!

Chris :)


	3. Chapter 2: Truth Shall Set You Free

**Chapter Two: Truth shall set you free**

Time had passed as it always did. Naruto and Naruko were happy, or as happy as two love struck people can be when they are living hand to mouth most days. Naruto knew he could make their lives a lot easier if he just traded in more of his Ryo from his old world, but recently he had gotten the impression he was being watched and that didn't sit well with him. It had started after the night the Hulk, that's what the papers had called the green creature, had defended Harlem and ever since then he had an itch on the back of his neck like people were watching him. He didn't know who they were, they were good at keeping out of sight, and that made him nervous. It was only the fact that he didn't detect any negative emotions from them that kept Naruto from hunting them down to get some answers. That and the fact that he was afraid Naruko would get caught in the crossfire.

There was another issue, Naruko. It was almost two years since they had started seeing each other and they were both reluctant to move their relationship into a more physical realm. For Naruto it was the nagging thought that maybe, just maybe, they were related in some strange fashion. Who was he to say that she wasn't this world's version of him, even if her parents looked nothing like him. That thought alone kept his more amorous thoughts in check, but it was obvious that Naruko also had reasons. They shared a bed each night and though things sometimes got fairly hot and heavy, she never complained when he stepped back to let things cool down. Naruto wondered if she had similar thoughts to his, though he never asked for fear of the answer.

Another odd thing about his life was the circle of friends he was gathering around himself. A few months back he had been called to deliver food to the site of a new building that was being constructed in downtown Manhattan. The place was going to be huge when complete and Naruto couldn't wait to see what the finished product looked like. Still, it was the owner that really caught his attention. The guys name was Tony Stark and he reminded Naruto so much of his old mentor Jiraiya that it was scary. One delivery and a short conversation led to another delivery and another conversation. Soon Naruto was introduced to Tony's assistant, Pepper Potts, a very lovely young woman that in many ways reminded Naruto of Shizune, Tsunade's student and assistant. Soon Naruto and Naruko were being invited over just to hang out with Tony and Pepper, who seemed to be tiptoeing around each other and the obvious relationship they were heading towards.

Life was strange, but good for Naruto, at least until he accidentally drew more attention to himself. At first he thought it was just a random event, but later he would understand that the events of that morning put him firmly in the sites of a rather secretive government agency. What happened was Naruto was delivering food to some guards in an unnamed government building. The guys were regulars and Naruto always shared a joke or two with them before heading off to his next delivery. That day things were a bit different as just before he could leave an alarm went off in the building and people started rushing around like crazy. Not wanting to get caught up in the situation, Naruto turned to leave when a young man in a t-shirt and khaki pants ran into him, literally. It didn't seem like anything important, but considering Naruto had just enough warning of the impending impact to channel chakra to his muscles, the guy ran into him and bounced off him like he had hit a solid wall. The guy looked a bit surprised, but bounced back up to his feet and was out the door in a moment. Naruto brushed it off and went on his way while people chased after the guy, but since then he had noticed that even more people seemed to be following him.

Now the smart thing to do would have been to get the hell out of New York and go to ground until things blew over. The problem was that he just could not bring himself to leave Naruko and he couldn't ask her to leave her education behind just for him. So, being the knucklehead that he was, Naruto just sucked it up and kept his eyes open for anyone that might mean them any harm. He still wasn't feeling any negative emotions, but the general sense of curiosity and a hint of fear was clear to him. It was starting to get on his nerves until he got some answers from a surprising source.

Naruto and Naruko were invited over to Tony's new penthouse apartment at the top nearly complete Stark Tower. The place was amazing, at least to Naruto's eyes considering he had never seen a place like it. Tony was in the process of giving him the tour while Pepper and Naruko were talking about female things. They had just stepped out onto the balcony when Tony finally seemed to get serious. Now the words serious and Tony did not belong in the same sentence, let alone the same city, but Naruto could tell from the way Tony was standing that he had something on his mind.

"You know, I'm a rather self centered person," Tony began with a smirk. "I admit it, mainly because it's true. Thing is, I'm also paranoid after some of the things that have happened in my life. So, I'm asking you for your forgiveness in advance."

"Oh this don't sound good," groaned Naruto, getting a chuckle out of Tony.

"Yeah, it's really not," admitted Tony with a sad smile. "Naruto, I like you, you're a good guy. Problem is, in my experience, good guys aren't always what they seem to be, so I did some digging."

Naruto sighed, taking a sip from the Coke Tony had given him earlier. "Let me guess, that digging had to do with me?"

Tony nodded, leaning against the railing of the balcony and looking out over the city. "Yep, you guessed it. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that you don't really exist. Sure, you've got some really good fake documents, but they only go back to a little over two years ago. Before that, nothing. No medical history. No school records. Nothing. Just a blank. I checked the records in Japan, still nothing. I checked immigration, nada. You're a ghost and that means you are one of two things. Either you're a spy sent to keep an eye on me and what I'm doing, or you're an illegal immigrant. Now, just between the two of us, I'm hoping you're just an illegal because I can fix that for you, but if you're a spy then we're going to have some problems. It's only the fact I've seen your name mentioned in a few government reports, all of which say you are not a threat, that's kept me from having you tossed out of the building and possibly country."

"Damnit, Tony, couldn't you just leave things alone?" asked a frustrated Naruto as he leaned back against the railing, looking in through the window at where Naruko and Pepper were chatting on the couch. "No, I'm not a spy, but I am here in this world 'illegally,' if that's what you want to call it."

"World?" asked Tony. "Not country, but world? That explains a lot."

"Fuck, I didn't mean to say that," groaned Naruto. "Fine! You want the truth? I'll tell you the truth, or at least as much of it as I know."

Naruto told Tony everything that he could remember. He told him about his own world, a world in which technology took a backseat to the power of chakra. Then he told Tony about his life, the ups and the downs, but especially about his life as a shinobi. He skimmed over the war, mainly because he couldn't remember most of it, before he got to the bits he was only guessing about. About how he knew he must have been injured during the last battle and how something had happened to send him to this world. Naruto then gave Tony all the details about his first few months in living here in this world and how eventually he had met Naruko and decided to settle down, even if he did still train like crazy at night.

"Another world," mused Tony. "Similar and yet different than this one, maybe even a different version of reality, the possibilities for study. I'd say you were nuts if I hadn't suspected something like that from some sensor readings I took of you the last time you were here. Subtle variations in the quantum level harmonics..."

"Great, the pit just gets deeper and deeper," sighed Naruto before cutting Tony off. "Next you'll tell me you took DNA samples as well."

The rather embarrassed look on Tony's face answered that one as the man tuned to Naruto. "Ok, so I'm a jerk and I already admitted I'm paranoid. Sue me. No, wait, you can't. We got to fix that. So, the DNA results were interesting, to say the least. You've heard of mutants?"

Naruto nodded, rather afraid where this was going as Tony continued. "Mutants have a .05 percent variation in their base genetic code that causes their abilities to manifest. You on the other hand have a one percent variation in the DNA that matches a human. However, you also have about 50 percent more genetic material, and no traces of junk DNA anywhere. You're human, at least your body appears that way, but you're like what humans could be after a few million years worth of evolution."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" asked Naruto, rather worried about the answer.

Tony shrugged, turning back to look over the city again as he spoke. "Well, it's different, that much I can tell you. I had Jarvis run numerous tests and the results were amazing. You've got the ability to regenerate from almost any wound that doesn't kill you instantly. Hell, even then I'm not sure you wouldn't regenerate over time. Don't even get me started on aging. Jarvis ran the tests several times and they all point to the fact you're going to live a very long time thanks to your cells regenerating perfectly each time."

"Lovely," groaned Naruto as he looked inside at Naruko. "I'll get to outlive everyone I love and care about. Not exactly something I'm looking forward to."

Tony turned to look inside and smiled sadly. "Can't imagine you would like that bit, but given your abilities, most of which I can only guess at, I can tell you one thing that might give you some peace."

"Yeah, you going to tell me that you found a way for me to go home, 'cause that's not exactly what I'm looking for right now," replied Naruto with a dry tone of voice and a frown.

"No, can't say I've figured that one out, not that I even really looked into it, much," admitted Tony. "Now this bit might piss you off a bit, but I did it after our last conversation about that young lady in there."

Naruto remembered that conversation. Actually, it was a partially drunken ramble they had about two weeks before. Feeling bad about his fears concerning the possibility of being related in some fashion to Naruko. It was the one and only time he had ever drank with Tony, he had needed someone to talk to and the older man reminded him so much of Jiraiya that Naruto was talking before he even realized what he was saying. Over the course of the night, and half a dozen bottles of fine whiskey, Naruto had told Tony about his fears. It never occurred to Naruto that Tony would remember the conversation considering the man was so drunk he could barely talk, let alone remember anything. Guess he had been wrong about that.

"Jarvis reminded me the next morning about a promise I made to you," Tony continued. "I had promised to find the answers for you, which directly led to me gathering a sample of your DNA off the glass you were drinking out of that night. A few nights later when you were both here, I did the same with Naruko."

"Fuck, Tony!" roared Naruto, glad the glass in the windows was soundproof. "You had no right to do that to her. Sure, I was an unknown, but she's just a normal woman. What gave you the right to do that?"

Holding up his hands in surrender, Tony nodded. "I know, I'm an asshole. Comes with being a genius with an ego the size of this building. Well, larger than this building, but that's besides the point. I promised you I would get you an answer and I did. You're not related to her in any way shape or form. Yeah, the resemblance is uncanny, but that's just dumb luck."

"There's no chance at all?" asked Naruto, feeling a bit of hope in his belly.

Tony shook his head with a smile. "None. Yes, cosmetically you look the same, but inside where it counts you are as different as can be."

"Thank Kami!" exclaimed Naruto with a smile from ear to ear. "Okay, I can cut you some slack after that news, but I'm still a bit pissed."

"Good, because I've got some more news for you that will probably use up that slack and then some," Tony said as he walked away from the balcony and closer to the window. "She may not be a blood relation, but she is a mutant. I don't have a clue what her power may be, or if she's even aware of it, but she carries the X-Gene, that I'm sure of."

Naruto thought about it for a moment, not really caring considering some of the things he had seen and done. "Not an issue. I've seen some strange things back on my original world. As far as I'm concerned, so long as she doesn't turn into a pasty white gay pedophile with a fetish for snakes, I'm fine with it."

"I'm not sure I want to even think about where you got that particular image from and I hate you for sharing it with me," Tony groaned, shuddering slightly. "However, I think that young women in there is going to be very happy about your views on the matter when she finally does share her secret with you, or discovers her powers for the first time. Meanwhile, Jarvis, get those papers finalized for Naruto. I want a full background, documentation, and paperwork ready to go by the end of the night. Also, give him copies of the SHIELD reports we found on him."

"Yes, Sir," replied the snooty British accented voice of Tony's computer system. "Shall I give him a suitably clean background or something more notorious, much like your own infamous past?"

"Wow, even your computer system knows you're an ass most of the time," complimented Naruto with a smirk. "How does it feel that even an inanimate objet holds you in contempt most of the time?"

"Oh, it's just dandy," was Tony's dry reply. "While Jarvis gets you on a more stable footing, I wanted to tell you I'll be heading back to Las Angeles tomorrow. I've got the Stark Expo starting in a few days, then a few other things to deal with before coming back here for the official ribbon cutting."

Naruto glanced over at his friend, jerk that he could sometimes be, and nodded. "Be careful, Tony. I've got a bad feeling about something. I tend to follow my gut instincts, comes with my training, and it's telling me that things are going to go bad, soon. Could also have something to do with the fact you smell like metal and sickness."

Tony looked a bit shocked at that announcement. "Umm... Buddy... Pal... Slightly creepy friend... What does that mean?"

Naruto looked over at Tony, noticing that the older man was sweating, just slightly. "Your sweat smells like metal, like that thing in your chest. You're pupils are slightly dilated, your heart rate is increased, and your reaction time is slower than normal. I first noticed it when I brought the food over the other day, but it's worse tonight."

"Huh, what'ya know, turn around is fair play and a bitch," chuckled Tony. "Okay, you told me your secret, so I'll tell you mine. The palladium in my little personal Arc Reactor is slowly poisoning me. Slowly but surely, my blood is turning toxic. If I can't find a solution, it's going to kill me within a few months."

"The use of the Iron Man armor seems to be accelerating the process," added the voice of Jarvis.

"So, stop using the armor," Naruto advised.

Tony scoffed at the idea, turning back around to look out over the city. "No can do, my fishy friend."

Naruto growled at that. "I knew you would figure that out eventually. It's actually maelstrom, like the storm."

"Nah! I like fish and the way you are looking at me reminds me of a shark I ran into last month."

"Seriously, Tony, no one needs a dead hero," said Naruto, ignoring Tony's attempts at changing the topic. "I don't need a dead friend. I need a living one that will have my back, just like I'll have his. You need a body guard, I'll be your body guard till you figure this out, but stay out of that fucking suit till you do."

Tony sighed, finally turning to Naruto with a sad smile. "The amount of time I spend in the suit as opposed to out of it really doesn't change anything. Unless I find a cure, I'm going to die one way or the other, it's just that simple."

"No, life is never that simple," countered Naruto. "It may look like it is, but if you look underneath the underneath, there is always something more you haven't seen before."

"Well, then I guess I'm taking you up on your offer," replied Tony with a smirk. "I may not need a bodyguard, but if you can see something I can't then you're hired."

"Whatever," Naruto said with a chuckle, before remember something. "So, tell me about this SHIELD."

Naruto thought Tony was joking until an hour later when Pepper provided him with papers to sign, showing that he was now an official employee of Stark Enterprises. The downside was he was going to be leaving with Tony and Pepper in the morning while Naruko stayed in New York to finish the last month of her classes for the semester. The upside was Tony offered them a suite in Stark Tower, right below his own. Naruko was so excited she pounced on Tony and kissed his cheeks several times, much to Naruto's annoyance and Tony's enjoyment. Only the fact Tony kept his hands as far away from Naruko's body as possible kept the man from getting his ass handed to him.

Several hours later, Naruto was lying in bed with Naruko in his arms thinking about everything that had happened that night. Tony's revelation that Naruko was a mutant came as something of a surprise, but with the number of bloodline users Naruto had met over the years, it really wasn't that big of an issue for him. The fact that there was no chance of them being related was a massive weight off his shoulders, though if he was honest with himself, the way he felt about her he probably wouldn't have cared if she was his sister. Incest was a major taboo here in this world, or at least this part of the world, but most of the major clans back on his original world had practiced it as a means of keeping their bloodlines pure. The problem was that he doubted Naruko would ever think it was acceptable and he would never do anything to hurt her, that was a promise of a lifetime.

As he watched her sleep, her head resting on his chest, he just smiled as he stroked her hair, realizing that he was thinking that this would be a lifetime commitment, or at least as much of one as he could make based on the other news he had been given. An extended lifetime, something he had never even considered due to his chosen profession. Yet now in this world, with no wars to fight or enemies chasing after him, it was a very real possibility. Eventually Naruko and everyone else he knew would grow old and die, but he would live on. Did he really want to live like that? Making connections with people only to see them wither and fade over time, leaving him alone and heartbroken over and over again. What type of life would that be, to continually bury his loved ones and be forced to wait for who know how long before he was reunited with them in the next life.

"What you thinking?" Naruko asked, surprising him a little as he thought she was asleep.

Watching as she rolled further onto his chest so she could lay her palms against it and rest her chin on them, Naruto smiled. "I'm thinking about us and about life in general."

Naruko smiled, that special smile she had that always made his troubles seem so small and unimportant. "What about us?"

Feeling his own grin as she looked at him, Naruto realized something important and he suddenly felt the need to tell her. "I love you, you know. With everything I am, I am in love with you, Naruko Namikaze."

Naruko gasped, whether from the announcement itself or the amount of emotion his voice contained. He watched her cheeks color, her breathing quicken, and felt her heartbeat race as her eyes filled with tears. At first he thought maybe it was the wrong thing to say, but when she suddenly kissed him, he knew he got it right. The kiss lasted for an eternity, or at least a minute, though it was hard to tell the difference. When they finally broke apart, Naruto had a goofy grin on his face that was matched by the one on Naruko's face.

"I love you, too, Naruto Uzumaki," she said with tears still falling from her eyes and a smile on her face. "I think I've loved you since that first morning in your apartment when you pulled me into your arms while you were still half asleep. I felt so safe and so warm in your arms that I never wanted to leave them, ever."

"You never have to, if you don't want to," he whispered back, his own eyes feeling a little moist as he said it.

The next twenty or so minutes were heated, to say the very least, but before they took that last step he stopped himself and pulled Naruko close, saying, "Not yet. I have some things I need to tell you before we go that far."

"What things?" she asked, a trace of fear and frustration in her voice.

So, he told her. He told her everything. From his origins to his fears about her possibly being a blood relation. He told her about his burden and partner, Kurama, to the fact that said fox had been asleep ever since they arrived on this world. Then he told her about how he felt about her and how she was the only reason he stayed in New York. Most of all he told her how much he loved her and trusted her, hoping that she could forgive him for the lies and half-truths. At first he thought she was going to get angry and reject him, but then to his surprise she giggled and kissed him again.

"I kind of wondered when you were going to tell me the truth," she said after the kiss. "I've known you were different for months. I caught you making one of your clones one morning and sending it off to make us breakfast while you thought I was still asleep. At first I was a little freaked out, but then I snuck out one night to watch you train and realized that you were like me, different but special. The fact that I never felt you would hurt me, not even when I saw how deadly you could be made me want to be patient, knowing you would tell me in your own time."

Naruko slowly sat up, letting the covers fall off her bare back as she slipped out of bed to stand naked in front of him. It was far from the first time he had seen her naked, but there was something magical about the way she looked right then. Her body seemed to glow, with her lightly tanned skin, perfectly formed breasts, narrow waist, perfect hips, and long toned legs it was like looking at the very image of perfection. That's when he saw the change.

Now Naruto had to admit that one of the things he liked the most about Naruko's body was the fact that other than a baby fine dusting of blonde hair on her arms, and of course the hair on her head, she didn't have a trace of hair anywhere else. Something about that just made his blood pump a little faster as it seemed to make touching her skin feel that much better. With that in mind, it was a little strange to watch as suddenly hair started to appear on her body. It started on her arms and legs, with patches appearing on her breasts and groin. Slowly it spread even as her arms started to lengthen along with her feet and face. In slow motion he watched her lean forward until her she was standing on four legs with her ears becoming pointed and moving to the top of her head. Her delicate nose and full lips stretched out to form a muzzle with whiskers appearing after a few seconds. Maybe the most surprising sight was when not one, but two long fluffy tails sprouted from the base of her spine.

Naruto sat up in bed with a smile as the transformation completed and Naruko sat back on her haunches. He could clearly see the worry in her eyes as she sat there waiting for him to say something. When he got out of bed and kneeled down in front of the now human sized golden fox that Naruko had become, she cocked her head to one side with hope showing in her eyes. Naruto just smiled to her as he wrapped his arms around her neck and hugged her.

"Well, that's ironic," he whispered in her ear now pointed ear. "I always thought you were a fox and it turns out I was right. Just remember, you're my fox, now and forever."

After transforming back into her human form, Naruko basically attached herself to Naruto in an embrace that would rival even Tsunade Baa-chans best efforts. This quickly turned into another series of passionate kisses and wandering hands, only this time neither of them was content to stop there. By the time the sun rose the next morning, Naruto declared the night a SSS ranked evening. When asked what that meant he just kissed her again and explained that it meant sexy, sated, and sleepy which got him a poke in the side along with a giggle as they drifted off to sleep for a few hours before Naruto had to leave.

Leaving was hard on them both, with Naruko making him promise to call her every chance he got. Naruto made that promise, reminding her that he never broke his promises, before he kissed her one last time before boarding Tony's private jet. Naruto spent most of the flight reading up on Stark Enterprises, which freaked Pepper and Tony out when they noticed Naruto was using five clones to learn everything he could in a limited amount of time. As the clones read, Naruto explained the principals behind the clone technique and chakra in general. Tony loved the idea that a human could generate that level of power, to create mass from sheer energy, and was taking notes and writing down ideas faster than anyone other than Naruto could follow. The fact that Naruto corrected several of Tony's notes led to the blond revealing that he had read the entire contents of the New York Public Library and memorized most of it. Pepper was soon asleep as the two men began discussing some really esoteric theories, but she had a grin on her face at the thought that finally someone might be able to keep up with Tony.

"So, you use all the traditional ninja stuff, right?" asked Tony as they were standing in the man's basement workshop that night. "Like swords, throwing stars, and smoke pellets?"

Naruto cringed when he heard the word ninja, as it had some negative connotations in this world. "I like to think of myself as a shinobi, not a ninja. Sure, in my world we called ourselves ninja, but we were more like glorified samurai. Less of the sneaking around at night and more of the face your enemy head on type of thing. That's not to say we couldn't do everything the ninja in this world can do, but we were a little more upfront about it, but yeah that's what I mostly use."

As he was speaking, Naruto pulled out the scroll that contained all his gear. That might have been a mistake as the moment he unsealed the contents they went off on a twenty minute tangent about subspace pockets and logic gates being used to manipulate them. Eventually they got back to the original topic, that of Naruto's gear. Laid out in frond of them was a wide variety of weapons that Naruto had been carrying when he arrived on this world. Most of it was damaged, but some was still in good condition.

"So, this wire?" asked Tony as he picked up a small loop of shinobi wire. "This stuff is amazing, it's finer than human hair. How the hell did they make this stuff? I take it you use it as tripwire?"

Naruto shrugged, looking at the wire in Tony's hand. "I don't really know how they make it other than it involves highly focused chakra being channeled into it as it's stretched. As for the uses, it can be used as tripwire, or to tie up an opponent. I've personally used it to scale buildings and once I used it as a weapon by channeling elemental chakra through it to chop a steel pillar in half."

"Jarvis, remind me to get details of 'elemental chakra,'" mumbled Tony as he sat down the wire and picked up a kunai. "Light. Much lighter than it should be for this size. Jarvis, I need a full analysis of this metal. It reminds me of the gold titanium alloy I used in my suits."

Naruto just stood back and watched as Tony went through all the weapons. The explosive tags were a hit, though they were mostly duds that Naruto had never had a chance to get rid of. There was also a broken ninjato, a few broken shuriken, and several smoke pellets. Jarvis analyzed it all, using Tony's personal fabrication equipment to replace the kunai and throwing stars. He offered to replace the ninjato, but Naruto admitted he never really liked the thing so what was the point. After two hours, Naruto was looking at a replenished weapons supply and new shin and forearm guards, courtesy of Tony scavenging them from an early mockup of his Iron Man armor.

"Now they don't do anything cool, unlike my suits, but they will keep you safe," offered Tony as Naruto was going through a standard kata, trying to get used to the added weight on his arms and legs. "I could make you some chest armor if you like?"

"Not right now," replied Naruto with a smirk. "Too much armor gets in the way when you are fighting. It dulls the senses and gives you a false sense of security, when nothing could be further from the truth. There will always be someone stronger than you, someone that can hurt you when you least expect it."

"Well if they can hurt you while you are wearing my armor, they really must be packing some heat," Tony said with a confident smirk. "My armor can take a hit from a tank and not buckle."

"Really?" Naruto asked with a smirk of his own. "Care to make a wager? Say, if I can dent your armor you buy some old coins off me?"

"Sure," was Tony's instant reply, never once thinking Naruto could even scratch his armor. "If I win, and I will, you've got to wear a pink tutu and sing I'm a little tea pot the next time we go out."

"Deal," was Naruto instant response, which should have worried Tony just a little bit. "You know those kunai you said was like your armor?"

"Yeah, what about them?"

Naruto just smirked as he walked over to a chest plate blank that Tony was messing around with. "This your normal stuff or just a mockup?"

"Actually, that's an improved version," was the reply as Tony was currently looking at one of Naruto's ruined explosive tags. "That one is rated at twenty-five percent stronger than the suit I normally wear."

Channeling a little nature chakra that he had collected earlier, Naruto smirked as his eyes changed to those of a toad. "Then this will be perfect for what I have in mind."

That got Tony's attention, causing the man to turn around and watch as Naruto lifted the chest plate off its stand and proceed to wad it up in his hands like it was wet tissue paper. Within the space of seconds Naruto turned the chest plate into a wad of scrap, then squeezed the resulting mass between his hands until he left hand prints in it. Letting the nature chakra dissipate, Naruto turned back to Tony with one of his trademark grins. Dropping the wad of ruined metal to the ground with a deafening crash, he turned and walked towards the stairs.

"Those kunai, the originals, I can snap one of them with just my fingers. I'll just go get those coins," he said as he opened the glass security door. "Hope you brought your checkbook."

The next night as Naruto stood backstage at the opening of the Stark Expo, Naruto was talking on the phone to Naruko. "Yeah, Tony is going to make a flashy entrance and then we're heading back to the house. Hopefully we'll be in New York tomorrow night to pick you up, but you know Tony, so don't be surprised if we're running late."

"I'm already packed," Naruko assured him. "Pepper called earlier saying she'd drag him kicking and screaming to the airport if she had to. Oh, and some guy came by earlier. Said his name was Colton or Coulson, I can't remember. He seemed like a nice guy, but was really insisting on speaking with you as soon as possible."

"I've heard of him from Tony and Pepper," Naruto said as he looked up, seeing Tony approaching in his Iron Man suit. "He works for a group that Tony has had dealings with in the past. Pepper says he's okay, but Tony says the guy is a bit of a wimp. Given Tony's views on most people, I'll go with Pepper's opinion. Did he leave a card or anything?"

Naruto could hear Naruko shuffling through something before she spoke again, just as Tony was hitting the stage. "Yeah, he left a card with a number. You want it?"

"Nah, I'll get it from you tomorrow night," he nearly shouted over the sound of the crowd and music that was currently blaring. "Listen, I can barely hear myself talk, so I'll see you tomorrow night. I love you!"

"Love you, too!" he just barely heard. "Bye!"

"Bye!" he shouted back, disconnecting the call and turning to watch Tony as he introduced the film of his father and walked off stage.

"Now that was how you make an entrance," Tony said as he walked over to stand beside Naruto, pulling a silver object out of his pocket.

"How's the toxicity?" Naruto asked, concerned for his friend.

Tony shrugged as the machine pricked his finger and tested it. "Not bad, but not great. Palladium levels up by one percent."

"Don't worry, Tony," Naruto said putting a hand on the older man's shoulder, "we'll figure it out. That's a promise."

* * *

AN: No point of view for this one, mainly because we'll be moving through the second Iron Man movie fairly quickly and Tony's PoV doesn't come into play until later. Not to mention I just had a really hard time putting myself in his position until later on in the story.

Wow, you all act like you liked the first chapter. In the four hours since I posted the first real chapter the story has collected 44 favorites, 53 follows, and 3 communities. Now that is a hell of a reaction for a first chapter. Let's not forget the reviews that came in within minutes of posting. Thank you all, really!

Told you, Naruko is not a blood relation, but she special. Nothing contained in the chapter is actually all that AU considering it's all stuff that has been mentioned in one form or another through official sources. Sure, I've combined them to suit my own purposes, but what fanfic author hasn't?

Anyway, I was so touched by the reception of the first chapter that I posted the second tonight rather than waiting till tomorrow night. Don't expect that to happen again any time soon.

I'm now off to bed.

Thanks you all!

Chris :)


	4. Chapter 3: Poor First Impressions

**Chapter Three: Poor First Impressions**

It was two days later and Naruto was currently helping Tony train. The man couldn't match Naruto in straight up strength, but he was fast on his feet and had good reflexes. Happy Hogan, Tony's chauffeur and sometimes bodyguard, was watching from the sidelines having earlier attempted to go head to head with Naruto and gotten his bell rung pretty good for the attempt. Of course Naruto had apologized and then pointed out several holes in Happy's defense which the man stated firmly he was going to work on for their next spar. That's how Tony got involved, seeing how effective Naruto's style of fighting was, he wanted to learn and though he was just starting, he was making a good attempt. Naruto was impressed by Tony's drive to learn and Naruto was even sweating a little from the workout, not that he was going to tell anyone he was holding back the majority of his skills.

"You sure you want to sign over your company to Pepper?" he asked as he ducked under Tony's fist.

Tony, who was trying to keep his mind on the spar nodded, never taking his eyes off of Naruto. "Yeah, I have too much going on right now to concentrate on the company. She's the right person for the job and I know she'll do the job for the right reasons."

Speaking of, Pepper walked into the room at that moment, followed a moment later by a young woman with long blood red hair and a natural grace about her. Naruto was on edge instantly as he recognized the way she walked as that of someone who had extensive training both in combat and stealth. He barely heard a word of the banter between Tony and Pepper as he focused on the woman. She was beautiful, though Naruko could put her to shame in Naruto's opinion, but it was the air of confidence she carried that drew his full attention.

"She's dangerous," muttered Naruto, just loud enough for Tony to hear.

Turning to Naruto with a questioning glance, Tony called the woman over. "What's your name?"

"Natalie Rushman, Mister Stark," she replied, sounding far to cheerful for it to be natural in Naruto's opinion.

"Well, Natalie, step on up here and tell me about yourself," Tony said with a cocky smirk.

Pepper was scowling at him as Natalie made her way over to the boxing ring they were standing it. Now a normal person wouldn't have noticed it, but Naruto saw the girl twitch as if she was going to bow to the mat and instantly knew she was hiding something. The grace with which she entered the ring had him on edge instantly and he focused inwards for a second to see if he detected any negative emotions. Thankfully there were none, but she was definitely hiding something from them and lying about her name.

"Naruto," Tony said, gaining the blond's attention. "Why don't you see if Natalie here is up to snuff in her self defense?"

Seeing the hard look in Tony's eyes, Naruto understood that the man wanted him to see what she was capable of. "Sure thing, Tony. Come on, _Natalie_, show me what you got."

Naruto watched as the young woman fell into a defensive posture that was obviously incorrect, but it was the fact she had to force herself to stand incorrectly that showed the true level of her skills. The woman pretended to be only adequate at what she was doing, but Naruto could play that game as well. He waited until she was distracted by something Pepper said before he struck out at her with a loose fist. Sure enough, she took the bait, in a move that would have done Rock Lee proud, she went on the attack and tried her damnedest to put Naruto on the ground. It was purely instinctive and it failed miserably. He broke her hold on his arm instantly, used the momentum from that to bring his knee up into her ribs, rotated back with his right fist to her jaw, and knocked her flat on her ass in the time it would take someone to blink. "Natalie" instantly jumped back to her feet and tried to attack him again, but using only a minuscule amount of chakra, Naruto reinforced his body so that when her punch landed all she managed to do was hurt her hand. Shocked that he hadn't even moved, Naruto had her on pinned to the ground with his hand clamped around her throat before she could even blink.

"Now, it seems someone has been lying to us," Naruto said very calmly, though his eyes were currently glaring coldly down at the girl. "You're very well trained, Natalie, or whatever your name is, but you are nowhere near my level of training. So, unless you want me to break your arms and legs, followed by your pretty little face, you're going to tell me exactly who you are!"

As that was happening, Pepper was calling security, knowing full well that Tony trusted Naruto. So, if Naruto said she wasn't who she said she was, then it was a fact. Natalie on the other hand was just looking up at Naruto with a mix of anger and shame. It was clear to Naruto that the woman had never been in a situation like this before, but that's what underestimating your opponent and overestimating yourself tended to do to you. He was an expert in that regard, having made the same mistake many times when he was younger. It took Jiraiya a long time to beat that habit out of his head, but Naruto had learned the hard way that even an untrained civilian could kill you if they got lucky.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said after a moment, trying to reign in her emotions. "Please, you're hurting me and I was just doing what Mr. Stark wanted, showing you what I can do."

"Lie," Naruto said with a cold, dead tone. "That was your freebie. The next time you lie to me I'm going to break one bone in your arm. Lie to me again after that and I'll break another bone in your arm. Eventually I'll move to your other arm and then your legs. Keep it up and I'll break each of your ribs, one at a time, before I start on the bones in your face. That's a lot of bones and a lot of pain. I can see in your eyes you are trained to resist pain, I recognize the slightly glazed look in your eyes as you are trying to separate your mind from your body, but after the first twenty or so bones, the pain is going to seep into your mind. It's going to be like fire along your nerves, pulling you back to the real world and as I know what I'm doing, you won't be blacking out any time soon. So, you have three options. One, tell me the truth. Two, lie and suffer the consequences. Three, bite off your own tongue and drown in your own blood."

Naruto could see she was a little shocked that he mentioned that third option, though he could also see she debated it for a moment, so he added a little salt to the wound. "That third one, won't really help you that much as I'll learn just as much from your corpse as I would from your own words. So, _Natalie,_ what will it be?"

"Fine," she spat, "My name is Agent Natalia Romanova. I am a field agent for SHIELD and was sent here to monitor Tony Stark now that his health is failing."

"What's she talking about, Tony?" demanded Pepper, though he motioned for her to be silent as he listed to Naruto interrogate the spy.

"So, SHIELD knows about that, do they?" Naruto asked, seeing her nod. "And they thought they would sneak you in to do what, steal Tony's Iron Man armor when his health got too bad? Is that why you had your agent Coulson trying to talk to me at my home, to distract me while you did your dirty work?"

"No, that was not my assignment," refuted the young woman. "I was just to monitor the situation and report back to SHIELD if the situation got too bad. As for Agent Coulson, I don't know his assignment, but SHIELD has had its eyes on you since your actions during the Harlem incident."

Naruto nodded, she had told the truth, if maybe only part of it. "Fine, you've got your eyes on me, but now I'm going to have my eyes on you. Here's the deal, you are going to tell Director Fury, yeah I know who he is thanks to Tony, that if he ever sends one of his agents near Naruko again I'll hunt him and the rest of SHIELD down and break each and every one of them, just like I broke you."

With a barely conscious flare of chakra, Naruto created twenty clones of himself, each sneering at the now frightened woman. "Their not illusions, Ms. Romanova, and I'm not to be taken lightly. Think of me as a legion of highly trained and very protective warriors. I'll find you, all of you, and I will stop you from hurting the people that are precious to me."

"Message received," said a man's voice from the doorway.

Naruto looked up and saw a tall black man dressed in all black with a long trench coat and an eye patch over his left eye. "This wasn't how I wanted to meet you, Mr. Uzumaki. My name is..."

"Nick Fury," Naruto said, cutting the man off. "Director of SHIELD and a moderately trained warrior from what I can see. I have to say, my first impression of you is that I dislike you. That being said, leave me and Tony alone. He and Pepper, not to mention anyone they are involved with along with Naruko are all under my protection."

Fury looked like he was going to say something, but the sudden appearance of one of Naruto's clones at his side with a kunai at the man's neck seemed to have him rethinking his words. "My apologies, Mr. Uzumaki. I was just trying to look out for the son of a friend. I meant you and your friends no harm. So, could you please let my agent up now?"

Naruto nodded, releasing Natalia's neck and leaping back away from her before she could even think to strike out at him. "Sure, take your agent and go, but remember what I said. It's the only warning I'm going to give you."

Later that night Naruto was kicking himself for acting so rashly. He had possibly made a serious enemy of Director Fury and Agent Romanova, not to mention SHIELD as a whole, but he had been scared by the thought that warriors like them might intend to hurt Naruko. He had let his fear cloud his judgement, and that had made a bad situation worse. No, he never would have hurt Agent Romanova, but she didn't know that and was right to be wary of him. After they left, Naruto had instantly called Naruko to warn her about SHIELD and she promised to be careful, but that didn't help him feel any better about her safety as he was so far away. Add that to the screaming match between Pepper and Tony as he tried to brush off the comments about his health and both men were feeling a bit low at the moment.

Jarvis' voice broke Naruto from his thoughts. "Sir, there is a call on your private line."

"Who is it, Jarvis?"

"It's a Mr Fury," replied Jarvis as Naruto walked over and picked up his cell phone. "He says to tell you there are no hard feelings, but he would really like to speak with you."

With a heavy sigh, Naruto hit the button to connect the call, saying, "Before you say anything, I need to apologize for my actions earlier. I acted rashly and without thought."

"Well, at least you're man enough to own up to it," replied the deep voice of the Director of SHIELD. "Can't let you have all the blame, though. I knew you were more than you seemed and I still sent Agent Romanova in there. So, let's just call it a wash and move on, shall we?"

"I can live with that," agreed Naruto, hoping the man was telling the truth. "Now, what can I do for you, Director Fury."

"We need to talk," was the immediate response. "If you've go the time right now, I'd like a face to face. In public, just you and me."

"And the battalion of highly trained agents I'm sure you'll have surrounding the area in case I get out of hand," snarked Naruto, though with no real animosity. "Bring who you want, I don't mind."

"I like you," grunted Fury. "Saw right through the lie and didn't make a fuss. Can't say that for a lot of people. There's a dinner about five miles up the road. I'll be there in about thirty minutes, so if you could meet me there, I'm buying."

"Fine, but can we skip the red rose in a book," Naruto said with a laugh. "I don't think I'll have any problem finding you."

"Smartass," grunted Fury before ending the call.

Naruto pocketed his phone and grabbed the leather jacket Naruko had gotten him for Christmas off the chair it was hanging on. He made his way downstairs where he found Tony sitting on the couch nursing a drink, an asleep Pepper with her head in his lap. Giving the unusually somber looking billionaire a questioning look, Tony just shrugged.

"She wore herself out yelling at me," Tony explained. "I'm sure you heard it. I'm fairly certain they heard it in New York."

"She going to be alright?" asked Naruto as he zipped up his jacket.

Once again Tony shrugged as he looked down at the sleeping woman. "I think so. I told her everything and she's determined to help me in any way she can to find a cure. She actually hit me, twice, so I know she's worried."

Naruto nodded with a smile. "She really cares about you. Kami knows why, but she does. Anyway, I got a call from Fury. We're meeting to try and calm this whole thing down a bit. Just thought I would warn you in case anything goes wrong while I'm gone."

"I'll have Jarvis up the security protocols and we'll head down to the basement, just in case," Tony replied. "You going to be alright on your own, or you want me to suit up?"

Shaking his head, Naruto glared at his friend. "No, I'll be fine. You on the other hand need to keep your ass out of that suit unless it's the end of the world. We're already working on a tight schedule, don't make it worse. There are five hundred clones currently reading over anything and everything that may possibly help, so just get some rest for now. I'll be back shortly."

"I hate doing nothing, you know that, right?"

It was Naruto's turn to shrug, knowing full well that Tony would be at his workstation as soon as he got Pepper settled in. Heading down to the garage, Naruto couldn't help but grin as he saw his newest toy. After Tony had bought the gold Ryo off him at the current price of the metal, Naruto had ended up with a fairly good sized chunk of change in his wallet. All said and done the coins earned him an easy four and a half million dollars. That being said, taxes this year would be killer, but with the majority of it being invested in Stark Enterprises under Pepper's control, Naruto was sure he would see a profit. While the majority of the money went into Stark stock, five hundred thousand had been deposited in Naruto's bank account. Naruko was in for one hell of a surprise when she found out that her tuition for her final two years had already been paid in full. Even with that being done, Naruto still had money in his pocket and a desire to own something of his own rather than borrowing things from Tony.

That being the case, Naruto had done an Internet search on motorcycles and was now the proud owner of a brand new orange and black Ducati Monster. The motorcycle was sleek and sexy as only a woman and a motorcycle can ever be. As he mounted the bike and brought it to life, Naruto wished Naruko was there with him to enjoy a ride on the bike at night. Sadly, he still had a few weeks before the end of her semester, but he promised himself that when the time came they would go riding. Looking at the time Naruto knew he needed to get moving if he wanted to be on time. It barely took him fifteen minutes to reach his destination and Fury still beat him there.

Parking his motorcycle outside the dinner, a nice little silver trailer like structure that looked completely out of place, right down to the smell of fresh paint on the sign. Closing his eyes, Naruto reached out to test the environment around him, discovering twenty men in hiding around the area and one woman. One very pissed off woman, who from the feel of it, didn't want him dead but didn't want him healthy, either. As he walked through the door, Naruto created one clone and dispersed it almost instantly as he walked through the door. One cook and one waitress, both of whom smelled like gun oil and leather, were the only other people in the place other than Fury. For his part, the smug looking black man was sitting at the dinners bar, dead center and in clear view of every window.

"Wow, you really went all out for this one," commented Naruto as he sat down next to Fury. "Moved this whole place in, about two hours ago if I'm reading the signs right, and even painted a sign and parking places just for this little meeting. I'm impressed, really."

Fury was just about to say something when the doors opened again and the clones started frog marching SHIELD Operatives in. Agent Romanova did not look happy, whether that was because she had been captured so quickly or because the two clones that captured her had disarmed her, actually all the operatives had been disarmed, was anyones guess. What surprised them all even more was when the clones handed the weapons back to the operatives and dispelled, save for ten of them that instantly henged into waitresses and cooks and started taking orders. The "cook" and "waitress" that were originally there were escorted to a table as the clones took over the kitchen and actually started preparing coffee and food.

"Even fully stocked the kitchen," Naruto said as one of the three clones there dispelled. "That will make it easier. So, what will you have, Fury?"

Now Nick Fury was a man that was accustomed to being in control of everything around him at all times. So, for his agents, the best SHIELD had to offer to be all captured in less time then it took Naruto to walk from the parking lot to the time it sat down was just a little disconcerting for him. The fact that Naruto had the ability to create solid clones of himself was bad enough, but that each of them probably only had a fraction of his power made the blond sitting next to him, well that scared the man silly. Oddly, the smell of freshly brewed coffee that was now coming from the pots behind the counter did not help the situation in the least.

"You're a dangerous man, Mr. Uzumaki," growled Fury. "You also play a dangerous game with forces you can't hope to understand."

"Call me, Naruto," instructed the young shinobi with a smile. "As for not understanding, get real. I've been trained to be a shinobi since I was a child. It's not that hard to understand, you work for a government that requires you to stay in the shadows. They rarely understand the sacrifices you are sometimes required to make to keep them safe and yet they continually ask you to keep making those sacrifices. You've lied, cheated, killed , maimed, stolen, blackmailed, and anything else you've had to do in order to complete your mission. At the end of the day the only thing that keeps you from going crazy is the knowledge that what you are doing will keep your precious people safe. The only difference between us is the number of precious people we protect. You protect a country while I protect a handful, but just like you I will do whatever it takes to keep my precious people safe."

"Alright, so you do understand," admitted Fury, though he didn't look too happy about it. "You know, I've had my eye on you for some time now. Funny thing is when I checked into your background, ignoring the lovely little whitewashed piece of crap Stark created for you, you don't exist. That lit a fire in my belly. See, I don't like mysteries and you are one huge ass mystery. Prior to two years ago, you don't exist."

Naruto never said a word, instead sipping on a coffee that one of his clones had sat in front of him. He was watching the room, most of the agents were acting calm, but he could tell they were ready to fight in a moments notice. The only person, other than himself, who seemed relaxed was Agent Romanova who was very happily eating a plate of fresh made chocolate chip pancakes. Naruto never believed her for a second, noticing she had both her guns resting on her thighs ready to shoot him in a second. All in all, it was like any number of visits he had made to other shinobi villages, tense and ready to explode at the slightest mistake.

"That's when one of my people brought me a report about a strange energy fluctuation from about the same time you arrived in New York," continued Fury, ignoring the plate of pancakes and the cup of coffee in front of him. "Then I found an old report from the Harlem incident, I'm sure you remember that, and footage of you getting hit with a flying car. Car was totaled, but you walked away without a scratch. Standard procedure back then was to monitor anyone that might be a future danger, but somehow your file never made it to my desk. Call it lucky, or bad staffing, it doesn't matter."

"Then, not that long ago, I find out you've been delivering takeout orders to my goddamned doorstep," Fury roared, a little vein now throbbing in his temple as Naruto started in on his second helping of waffles and ordered a refill of his coffee. "Once again, no one fucking bothered to mention to me that someone on our watch list was actually in the building. I didn't find out until Agent Coulson was reviewing some security footage and recognized you from an ongoing file. Then I get a call from him telling me that he saw you and your girlfriend moving into Stark Tower, where you now work as a freelance security consultant."

"Also bodyguard and personal trainer," added Naruto, through a mouth full of waffles. "Listen, Fury, if you've got a point, make it. So far you're just spewing hot air and vague theories, which honestly, I couldn't care less about. I manned up to my mistakes, but that doesn't mean I'm going to sit here and listen to you ramble just because you seem to think the sound of your own voice is intimidating. I've faced much worse things than you during my life, so excuse me if your theatrics and yelling mean little to nothing to me. If you're just trying to intimidate me, I'm leaving."

"You're fucking surrounded," growled Fury, having enough of Naruto's attitude. "What makes you think you're getting out of here in one piece?"

Naruto just laughed in his face, finishing his coffee and smiling at Fury. "What makes you think I was ever really here?"

With that, "Naruto" vanished in a cloud of smoke along with all his clones and all the weapons "he" had returned earlier. That left Fury and twenty-one of his best agents sitting, unarmed, in the middle of nowhere with nothing to show for it but the smell of coffee and pancakes in the room. Agent Romanova walked over and took a seat next to Fury with a look of grudging respect on her face.

"I hate to admit it, but he's got skill and style," she said quietly. "I never even heard him before the clones got me in the woods. I was disarmed and carried here so fast I couldn't even react. Only thing the clone said to me as we were coming here was that I was pretty good, though I needed a lot of practice if I wanted to be a 'real shinobi.' Sad thing is, I think he was serious. From his point of view, we aren't that skilled and not that big a threat to him."

"I know," growled Fury, finally taking a sip of his coffee and wondering why the stuff he made never tasted this good. "I could see it in his eyes. He's seen the wars, just like us, only I got a feeling that whatever it was he was involved with was a whole lot nastier and much more up close and personal."

Romanova nodded, she had gotten that same impression of Naruto in her two encounters with him. "What are your orders, sir?"

"Keep him and Stark under surveillance for now," ordered Fury as he stood up to leave. "Tell Agent Coulson to remain on babysitting duty at Stark Tower, for now, but to keep his distance from Mr. Uzumaki's girlfriend. I don't think the kid will get nasty unless we push him, but I'm not letting this go until I know whether he's a threat or not."

Romanova nodded, never noticing the dried leaf stuck to her boot vanishing in a puff or smoke. In fact not one of the agents from that night would notice as various ants, twigs, and assorted other inconsequential items fell off their uniforms after they returned to base. By sunrise the next morning, Naruto's "spies" knew every SHIELD base, agent, and current operation there was to know. In his youth he had been a knucklehead, he fully admitted that now, but that changed during his war. If SHIELD ever acted against him or anyone under his protection, Naruto would be ready and they would be sorry. It was as simple as that.

Meanwhile, Naruto was sitting about a mile away groaning to himself. Once again he had let his inner knucklehead out and made a mess of things. Call it a learned reaction, but he did not react well to people trying to intimidate him and what he had thought would be a brilliant prank had become another mess he would have to clean up later. This was not how he had wanted the meeting with Fury to go, but he had acted before thinking. How was this being more mature and a better person? It wasn't and that was the problem as he now would have to work even harder to make amends for his actions.

"I need to be better," he mumbled as he started his bike and headed back to Tony's.

Two days later Naruto was escorting Tony and Pepper into a very posh restaurant in Monaco. Naruko was on his arm, exited to be invited to tag along. There were the standard introductions to the rich and famous, which Tony pointed out Naruto was going to be one of considering his investments in Stark Industries. The fact that he was currently carrying a modified version of the Iron Man armor disguised as a briefcase had him a bit on edge, but Tony's argument that they never knew when they might need it had carried a bit of truth, so Naruto agreed. Didn't mean he liked it, but he couldn't argue with it either.

"I feel so under dressed," whispered Naruko, even though she was wearing a dress that cost more than their rent for their old apartments.

Naruto just leaned down and kissed her cheek, saying, "You're the most beautiful woman in this room, whether in that lovely dress or in jeans and a t-shirt. No one here can compare to you."

Naruko blushed at the compliment, thinking to herself that her boyfriend was going to get very lucky later on. It was half an hour later when Naruto realized something was wrong. Tony had excused himself to go to the bathroom a little while back and now he was on the television announcing he was going to be driving the Stark car in the race. Naruto just cringed as Pepper began to rant, deciding it was not always a good thing to be Tony's friend. Minutes after the start of the race was when sparks began to fly.

A guy with electrified whips attached to his arms was attacking the race cars with Tony fast approaching his location on the track. With a quick kiss for Naruko, Naruto was out of there in a flash. Naruto went straight through the window and took to the rooftops as he sped towards the site of the attack. Rooftop travel turned out to be a bust considering there was almost as much traffic up there due to spectators and camera crews as there were on the ground, that meant Naruto had to drop to the ground and race through the crowds of spectators.

He managed to arrive just in time to see Tony's car get attacked by the guy with the whips, hoping Tony had the good sense to tuck his legs in or he was going to be looking for some much shorter pants from now on. Channeling even more chakra into his body, Naruto took to the air, clearing the final barrier and landing with both feet in the middle of the guy's back, driving the moron to the ground. Naruto rolled forward, noticing Tony had crawled clear of the wreckage, looking stunned but otherwise intact, and slid the Iron Man armor across the pavement to his friend. Spinning back around and pulling out two kunai, Naruto went on the attack while Tony suited up.

Channeling even more chakra through his body, Naruto dodged a whip as the guy managed to get back to his feet. He would have been impressed if the whip hadn't almost cut a driver in half as he tried to escape, only Naruto deflecting the whip with a thrown kunai allowed the innocent man to get free. The distraction cost him as the maniac hit him with the other whip in the chest. Thankfully Naruto had enough chakra in his system now that his skin had hardened, something that always before had required nature chakra to accomplish, but recently he had achieved just using his own. Sure, it stung like a bitch and left a fairly nasty burn, but you try getting hit with an electrified tentacle and see how you feel.

Obviously the nut job didn't expect Naruto to just shrug his attack off, because he looked stunned as Naruto got in close and punched him several times in the chest and face. Hearing Tony call his name, Naruto pulled the man forward, rolling backwards and using his legs to kick the guy up into the air. A second later Tony hit him with two repulsor blasts to his shoulders and disrupting the power supply to the whips. Meanwhile Naruto had used his impressive speed to get up behind the now falling man, grab hold of what looked like a metal brace on his back, and using the man's momentum he spun the guy around and slammed him face first into the pavement. From the sounds of breaking bones and shorting electrical circuits, the man was not going to be getting up any time soon. Naruto watched as Tony kicked the guy over on his back, pulling a glowing power cell from the man's chest armor, and disabling whatever weapons systems he might still have.

"Well, that was fun," commented Tony with his voice sounding distorted by the Iron Man armor.

"Yeah, real fun, Tony," replied Naruto as he looked over at his friend. "Now deactivate that fucking suit before it does more damage than good."

Tony just nodded as he deactivated the suit. "Yes, mother. I'll be a good boy, mother."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about me, Tony," Naruto said with a foxy grin. "It's Pepper you have to worry about."

"Naruto!" shrieked a voice that he had not expected to hear quite so soon.

Tony just smirked as Naruto turned around to see his rather upset looking girlfriend running towards him. "Well look there. Seems I'm not the only one who is in for a rough night."

"Tony," Naruto said right before Naruko tackled him, "I really don't like you some days."

Thankful for his ability to heal quickly, Naruto was sitting on Tony's plane later that day with Naruko's head in his lap. To say she had been pissed would be an understatement. She had yelled and screamed at him for an hour straight before breaking down in tears. Thankfully he was fully healed before she demanded to see his wound, so all she saw was some soot from Naruto's ruined shirt and not the third degree burn it had started out as. The pain of the wound had been nothing compared to the realization that he had scared her and Naruto promised to be more careful from now on. Naruko accepted that, but made him promise he wouldn't do anything that stupid again. It was a promise he couldn't make. He told her that if it was a choice between protecting his precious people and getting hurt, possibly being killed, he was always going to choose his precious people over his own safety. That started another crying fit, but in the end Naruko accepted that the man she loved could just be stupid like that sometimes.

Naruto watched and listened as Tony attempted to talk Pepper into running off with him, leaving everything behind. He could tell Tony was scared of his impending death and he knew that the man had talked with his attacker before they left. Whatever the guy had said to him had Tony really rattled, not that he was going to tell anyone. Still, Naruto knew that Pepper would never agree to let Tony just give up and sure enough she was pointing out that they still had options before they could just give up. She even made a suggestion that maybe until he found a solution he should remove the miniature Arc reactor from his chest and use an alternate power source. Tony shot that one down fairly quick, not wanting to have a power cord attached to his chest at all times, limiting his movements and making him a prisoner in his own home.

"But if it keeps you alive long enough to find a solution, isn't that worth it?" asked Pepper, tears in her eyes as she tried to make Tony see reason.

"She's right, Tony," Naruto said, finally deciding to weigh in on the topic. "It buys you time that you didn't have before."  
Tony scowled, trying to think of another solution, and failing. "The amount of power we're talking about, I'd have to still be plugged into the Arc reactor."

"But it wouldn't be in your chest," pointed out Naruto. "Wear the damned thing in a backpack, with proper shielding, at least until you can find better way."

Now that got Tony's attention, it was a shielding issue that was causing his problem, so why couldn't he create a shielded enclosure for the arc reactor. Naruto could see the gears spinning as Tony started designing the new shielded enclosure. Sure, the guy was a genius, but sometimes he overlooked the obvious answers to his problems, instead throwing more technology at a problem. Pepper saw that look in Tony's eyes as he mentally designed the new system, mumbling about backups and shielding materials. She finally looked over at Naruto and mouthed, "thank you," to which he just smiled in reply. His work done, Naruto just leaned his head back on the couch and went to sleep.

* * *

AN: Sorry, no point of view for this one either. Trust me, Tony will have a point of view, though not yet.

Shorter chapter than most, but I just didn't think you wanted me to rehash the movie again. I did make a point of showing that Naruto is not a pushover, but is also aware that he's making mistakes. The scene with Natasha gives you a good indication of what his fighting skills are like and he only barely used any chakra to reinforce his body. They are extremely similar, child soldiers trained from an early age, but Naruto sums it up best by saying she is talented though not on his level yet.

Another chapter to come soon.

Hope you enjoyed and see you very soon.

Chris :)


	5. Chapter 4: Armor Gonna Miss You

**Chapter 4: Armor Gonna Miss You**

Naruto groaned as he looked at the devastation left by Tony's birthday party. Most of the glass in the house was shattered, several cars were destroyed, not to mention Naruto's brand new motorcycle, and there was enough structural damage to make him wonder how the place was still standing. Naruto had known the party was a fucking mistake from the word go, but Tony was feeling moody and decided he needed to blow off some steam. This may have been triggered by the most recent blood tests, but Naruto suspected it also had something to do with a conversation Tony had with his friend James Rhodes.

Now Naruto didn't really get along with "Rhodey," probably because the guy reminded him a little too much of Sakura when she was younger. One moment he could be a really good guy and the next he was lecturing you on how foolish he thought you were. The fact that the guy felt Tony should just hand the Iron Man armor over to the military to use as a weapon rather than a shield really pissed Naruto off and he suspected Tony was much the same. So it came as little surprise that when Tony started getting a little out of hand and put on the Iron Man armor to impress his guests, Rhodey felt it was his duty to break the part up. Naruto rather agreed with that bit, but not the method in which the man went about it.

Tony had been working on a modified version of the Iron Man armor that would have its own power source rather than using the one in his chest. Evidently Rhodey knew about it and figured it would be alright if he "borrowed" the suit to stop Tony from getting out of hand. Now that right there set Naruto off. He knew how Tony felt about other people using his armor and seeing Rhodey and Tony fighting, damn near destroying the place was enough to put Rhodey firmly in the "kick his ass" category for Naruto. He had just managed to get the last of the civilians clear when Tony and Rhodey managed to blow up the living room by crossing repulsor blasts. Tony was out for the moment, but Rhodey was sober and came around quicker. The guy was just about to leave with the armor when Naruto stepped up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"I'm going to have to ask you to remove that armor, Mister Rhodes," he said in a deadly serious tone. "If you don't, I will remove it for you. This is your only warning."

The sound of the distorted snort of disbelief was the only warning Naruto got before Rhodey swung on him. Being unfamiliar with the armor, Rhodey was unprepared when Naruto ducked the punch and rammed his fist into the chestplate of the armor, effectively knocking Rhodey off his feet and across the room. Rhodey managed to recover fairly fast, but you could tell from the way he looked at his now dented armor that the man was shitting himself. The fact that a second later Naruto was on top of him, crushing the power conduits in the arm pieces to prevent him from firing the repulsor blasts must have also surprised him because he activated the leg repulsors to try and get away.

If Naruto was anything, it was stubborn. That being said, even as they crashed through a wall he never let go of the rogue armor. With one hand free he charged up a Rasengan and rammed it into the power supply for the suit, crushing it and deactivating the suit which brought them to a crashing stop just as they broke though the final wall and ended up in Tony's front yard. What followed was a very rough removal of the damaged Iron Man armor that left Rhodey laying in a heap nursing several broken bones and a lovely new black eye.

"So, you think you hold the moral high ground here?" asked Naruto as he glared down at the injured man. "From what I saw, neither of you were blameless. You saw the people around you as you fought with Tony and yet you decided force was required rather than diplomacy. You escalated a situation that need never have gotten that far."

Pulling a small black remote from his pocket, Naruto held it up for Rhodey to see. "Tony built this for me. It's a lockout control for his suit. One press of a button and I can shut his suit down instantly."

"Then why didn't you when he was acting the fool in there?" asked Rhodey, sounding angry even though he was nursing a broken arm and leg. "Why did you let him strut around like that?"

"Because it's his right to mess around if he wants to," Naruto shot back. "You make him out to be a role model, but he's just a man who's scared for his life right now. So what if he wanted to mess around, I was watching him the entire time and I never would have let him do anything to hurt anyone. Hell, I didn't activate his weapons systems until you started firing on him first. I would have stopped you both sooner, but someone had to get the bystanders out of the way. That doesn't mean I was going to let you go with his armor though. I know your type, you think you have the right to take what other people worked hard for and use it any way you see fit. Well not this time, Mr. Rhodes."

Naruto pulled his phone out and dialed 9-1-1, waiting for the operator to come on the line. "This is Naruto Uzumaki and I would like to report an attempted theft of personal property, destruction of personal property, and willful negligence of human life. Not sure if that one actually has a law associated, but it should."

He waited for a moment, listening to what the operator had to say before replying, "Yes, the two people are in custody as we speak. Their names are James Rhodes and Tony Stark. Yes, I'll swear that one out when the police get here. Thank you."

He hung up the phone, glaring down at Rhodey who was looking surprised that Naruto had ratted out Tony as well, to which Naruto said, "He was in the wrong. At the very least he needs to understand that his actions have consequences. I'll have to secure the armor until he's released, but then I think I'm more than capable of stopping anyone that tries to take it, wouldn't you say?"

Rhodey and Tony both left in handcuffs that night, but Tony admitted before he left that he had messed up. Sure enough, two hours later a regiment of National Guard members, two US Marshalls, and a lawyer showed up with a warrant to take the Iron Man armor and all related files. Too bad for them there wasn't a trace of any of it by the time they arrived. With the help of Jarvis and Tony's semi-sentient robotic assistants, Naruto had managed to seal all the armor, assembly equipment, computer backups, and various piles of junk parts into the seal on the back of his old headband. Jarvis then deleted all the local copies of the material in question before backing himself up to another portable computer core which was currently hidden in a seal on the back of Naruto's calf. Needless to say, the lawyer was not happy when he left empty handed.

"Stark will be home in about an hour," said a voice from the doorway.

Naruto turned around to find Fury and Romanova standing there with another agent, an unassuming looking guy with a smile on his face. According to the files Naruto read the guys name was Coulson. "Yeah, I figured he wouldn't be there long, but he has to learn that his actions have consequences, just like everyone else."

"Just like you, Mister Uzumaki?" asked Fury as he wandered around looking at the damage. "You drew a lot of attention with your little performance in Monaco. People in all the wrong places are asking questions about you and about the young lady you were with."

"And you're going to offer to help me protect her?" asked Naruto, his eyes going cold. "I guess I should just play nice and let you 'guide me' to a better solution than anything I might think of? You don't think I haven't already thought of what the consequences of my actions might be?"

"No, I'm sure you know what could happen," Fury said as he toyed with the remains of what had once been a priceless sculpture. "I'm just here to offer my assistance if you should require it."

"Ahh, I see," said Naruto with a smirk. "You want to be my friend now that you know some of what I can do. Better a friend than an enemy, right? Do you want me to tell you all my little secrets, just so you can better protect me? Call you when I hear a bump in the night so you can tell me it's going to be okay? Are you fucking serious?"

"I'm the most serious mother fucker you're ever going to meet, Naruto," growled Fury, once again trying to intimidate Naruto with his very presence.

Naruto just scoffed and turned his back on the man. "That why you still have Naruko under surveillance? How's that working out for you, Coulson?"

"Not well," admitted the man. "It seems every time I get near her, something suddenly gets in my way. I'm assuming you're responsible for that somehow. I have to admit, I rather enjoyed the pack of fox kits that kept me from reaching my car the last time."

"Yeah, that one was fun," Naruto said with a grin. "You've been fairly decent about the whole thing, so it wasn't like I was going to glue you to the roof or something like that. Naruko got a chuckle out of it as well and sends her apologies, since it was her idea."

Coulson nodded with a smile that never reached his eyes. "I appreciate your understanding, Mister Uzumaki. I'm just following orders, as I'm sure you're aware."

Turning back to them, Naruto smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'm aware. I'm aware of a lot of things. The Avengers Initiative. The Captain America retrieval project, how's he doing by the way? The Tessaract Weapons Program. Yeah, I'm just full of useless information.

You ever seen a black man turn red with fury, no pun intended. Well Naruto did as he watched the Director of SHIELD realize that some of the most secret programs they had were now known by a man that might possibly be their greatest enemy. This was also not a fact that was lost on Romanova or Coulson as they both looked like they had just swallowed a whole lemon. Naruto rather liked that look on all of them as he just smiled at them.

"I'm not your enemy, Fury," he finally said. "Not unless you make me one. I appreciate what you do for this country, I really do, but you aren't going to be able to walk in here and force me to bend to your will. You threaten Naruko, I'll destroy your entire organization. You hurt her, I'll make you watch as I break every agent you've got, then I'll do the same to you. You kill her, there won't be a place on this planet that I won't find you and your families. I'm not normally a violent man, I'm really not, but if war taught me anything it's that you never fight for a cause, you fight for the ones you want to protect. So, I'll fight for her and those I care about. It wont' be a war you can win."

"You think you can threaten me and mine?" demanded Fury.

"Isn't that what you are trying to do to me?" asked Naruto. "I'm treating you exactly the way you're treating me. You spy on me, I'll spy on you. You threaten me, I'm damned sure going to threaten you right back. Oh, and the six snipers you had around the house, their tied up next to your car, so don't play like you were here carrying a white flag and being the good guy. You're playing dirty, so I'm returning the favor. Next time you want to talk, play me fair and I'll do the same to you. As for your secrets, they will remain secret, but you keep this crap up and I'm going to start getting pissed. You won't like me when I'm pissed, and Kami help you if I actually get angry. I'll make Banner look like a pussy, that's a promise."

Fury just sighed, this meeting was a complete fucking failure. "Why is it that I can't seem to talk to you without wanting to pull my hair out? Not an easy feat considering I don't have any."

Fury waved off the two agents, telling them to go until their fellow agents and return to base before he pulled out the earpiece he was wearing and tossed it to Coulson. "I'll call you when I'm ready to leave, till then, get out of here."

The two agents turned to leave, but Naruto called out just before they closed the door. "Coulson!"

"Yes, Mister Uzumaki?"

"Tell Barton he needs to find a way to carry more spare arrows," Naruto said with a kind smile. "The guy has some skills, but he really needs to be better prepared for larger forces."

"I'll pass the message along," Coulson said as he nodded and closed the door.

"How the fuck did you learn everything you know?" asked Fury once the door was closed.

Naruto just shrugged walking over to what was left of the kitchen and pouring two glasses of water. "That's my secret, that I may share with you someday if you earn my trust. We're a long way from that right now. I'm a firm believer in keeping my promises, so I will make you one right now. I promise, you earn my trust and I'll tell you my secrets while keeping yours."

Fury thought about it for a moment, thinking about everything he had learned about the man in front of him, before nodding his head. "Sounds like an acceptable deal. I don't like that you know the things you do and I would be within my legal rights to have you arrested for treason, but something tells me you wouldn't go quietly, so that leaves me in a sticky situation. I either trust that you won't act against SHIELD and the United States, or I try to take you down and hope I can do it before you take us down. I'm still not positive you could manage that, but from what I saw of the reports from Monaco, it would be messy."

"Yeah, it would be that," agreed Naruto. "Listen, I'm not kidding, I don't want to be your enemy, Fury. I'm just not comfortable with the fact you can't seem to get it through that thick skull of your's that I'm not going to just roll over and take crap from you or your people. I let the spying go because I could tell there was no real threat to it. Hell, I even tried to make peace with you when you called for that meeting, but I'm not going to let you muck around in my life as if you actually have the right to. I've had too many people do that to me in the past and it's not going to end any better for you than it did for them. I'm my own person and I'll follow the laws of this land because I believe they are good laws, but when you start abusing them to get what you want, then we're going to have issues."

"I can see that already," groused Fury as he sipped his water. "You're a spirit of the law type guy, not a letter of the law lackey. I can respect that and I try to do the same whenever I can, but I've got responsibilities to protect this country and I can't just let people like you and Tony go unsupervised. There has to be an accountability, you have to answer to someone at some point."

Naruto nodded, it was a fair expectation as he had always had to follow a chain of command in his former world, so why not here. "That's something I can understand and have to agree with you. Like I said, I never had a problem with you watching me, it's just the heavy handed techniques I have issues with. Can you blame me for that? I mean, honestly, I've not done anything to you that you haven't done to me. Do you like it?"

With a wry laugh, Fury shook his head. "You're too fucking much like me, you know that? I look in your eyes and see myself. I think I hate that almost as much as having my own tactics thrown back in my face, but no, I can't really fault you for it. Mutual destruction, that's what we're looking at here, two weapons of war pointed at each other ready to go off at any moment, destroying both and leaving nothing but destruction in their wake. Not exactly the legacy I want to leave behind."

"Me either," agreed Naruto with a sad smile. "I've done my time in the war. I had thought this place would be different, but it's not. My war was fought face to face, you saw your enemies eyes when they died. Not here. Here you push a button half a world away and kill thousand if not millions and you never have to see the eyes of the survivors. I think I liked our way better."

Fury nodded, filing away the knowledge that Naruto talked about coming from a different place where technology was obviously not as advanced as it was here. "You may be right. We've gotten too used to killing our enemies and never having to look the results. It's made us indifferent to war, but now we have the threat of people like you and Tony to deal with as well. It's hard to deal with a threat you can't see until it's too late."

"A valid argument," Naruto said as he walked over to refill their glasses. "That's why I like the idea of your Avengers Initiative. A group of warriors tasked to deal with rogue elements that were too powerful for the military to handle. They would be protectors of the innocent and role models for younger generations. Now that is something I can get behind."

"Exactly!" exclaimed Fury with a smile. "Show the world that there is a place for super-humans and mutants that doesn't involve hate or suspicion, while protecting the people that can't protect themselves. The military can't handle that type of thing, the deal with Banner in Harlem was proof of that. Now we've got armor platforms like Tony's running around in the world, something he swore would not be an issue for years to come, and you can see we need something like the Avengers Initiative."

Naruto nodded, handing Fury his glass. "I know, but right now the government sees the situation as something that can be handled with bigger guns and more bombs. Eventually they are going to get caught with their pants down and we're all going to be in deep shit."

"Hey, is this a party and I wasn't invited?" shouted Tony as he walked in the house. "If it is, who invited the cyclops?"

Naruto was ready for it when Tony strode across the room and slugged him in the face, it wasn't like it hurt that much. "That's for having me arrested."

"Don't play if you aren't prepared to pay," Naruto advised. "After last night, I think we'll pass on the parties for a while. Fury and I were just hashing out our differences and trying to find a common ground to work from."

"True," confirmed Fury with a smile. "I also came to read you the riot act, but I think Naruto hear is capable of doing that. I would like to talk with you, privately, if that's alright?"

"Sure, I've got nothing better to do right now," Tony answered with an obviously forced smile and lighthearted tone.

"Yes you do," growled Naruto, unsealing the shielded backpack for the Arc Reactor and tossing it to Tony. "You can put that thing on and stop acting the fool. What the fuck were you thinking putting the Arc Reactor back in your chest? I only allowed it because I thought it would be for a little while. Then you go and trash your own house and force me to have you arrested, meaning you've had that damned thing in for too long! How am I supposed to help you stay alive if you won't help me?"

Tony, looking rather like a scolded child did as he was instructed. "Yes, mother."

Tony and Fury stepped outside to discuss things for a little while. At one point Fury handed him a syringe with something that helped to take the edge of Tony's Palladium poisoning. He admitted it wasn't a cure, but it would buy Tony enough time to find a better solution. Eventually Fury called for Coulson to come get him, also to drop off a crate of stuff that Tony's father had left with SHIELD. After Fury left, Naruto and Tony worked on getting the house back up and running, though Tony told him to keep the Iron Man armor sealed up until he was sure it would be safe. Naruto agreed to that and left Tony to look over his father's things while he went to clean up and call Naruko, who was staying at Pepper's place. Seeing that Tony was rather absorbed in his father's journals and an old movie real, Naruto jumped on Tony's motorcycle and headed over to see his girlfriend.

When he arrived back at Tony's place several hours later he was amazed at the difference in the basement workshop. Something had lit a fire under Tony's ass and the place now looked like a scene from a bad sci-fi movie. When he asked Jarvis what was going on, the computer answered that Tony had discovered something his father had left behind that pointed to a cure for the Palladium poisoning and that Tony was just about to test it. Yeah, well that went well as a moment later there was a crazy ass light show going on, damned thing was cutting through anything in its way before Tony managed to hit a target on the other side of the room. The result of all this, other than insuring the damned house would have to be torn town and rebuilt from the ground up, was a new element that Tony could use to power his miniature Arc Reactor.

"Jarvis, start the diagnostics!"

"I'm guessing this is a win for the good guys?" Naruto asked as he walked over to look at the new power supply.

"Yep," agreed Tony with a grin from ear to ear. "Turns out that dear old dad still had a few things to teach me. He discovered this little gem years ago, but didn't have the means to make it, so he hid it away for me to find and perfect. With this I'll have a massive increase in performance, with the added bonus that it won't slowly kill me."

Oddly enough, Naruto could actually feel an energy signature similar to natural chakra spilling out of the modified Arc Reactor. "That things got some serious power behind it, Tony. Don't take it lightly and don't use it until you are sure it's not going to kill you."

"Hey, have some faith in me, Naruto," whined Tony with his most innocent expression. "You act like I'm not a responsible adult."

"You're responsible, alright," agreed Naruto. "You're responsible for all the damage upstairs, for the fact that Pepper is PISSED at you, and also for the fact that my brand new motorcycle is now a pancake. You're going to replace it, soon."

"Yeah, yeah," moaned Tony. "I'll have Happy pick you up a replacement tomorrow morning, happy now?"

"Very."

Naruto left Tony to run his tests as he went to clean up. He was taking Naruko to the Stark Expo as a date slash bodyguard duty for Pepper. Naruko was really looking forward to it even if they would have to sit through a presentation by one of Tony's business rivals, Justin Hammer. Hammer was a bit of an asshole, at least in Naruto's opinion, but he felt he needed to be there, so why not take Naruko along. Yeah, that idea went right out the door when Hammer revealed that his big advancement was a fully autonomous battle armor that looked a lot like a knock off of the Iron Man armor. He was just about to comment on that fact when his phone went off, the caller ID showing it was Tony calling. Tapping his earpiece, something Tony had given him just that afternoon, Naruto answered the call.

"What's up, Tony?"

"You've got to get everyone out of there," warned Tony, though it was hard to tell with the sound of wind nearly drowning him out. "I got a call from Ivan Valenko."

"The nut from Monaco?" asked Naruto as he stated, not liking the sound of this already. "Thought he was supposed to be dead?"

"Evidently the reports of his death were greatly exaggerated," replied Tony. "He says he's going to attack what I hold dear and that makes me think the Expo is his target. He didn't come right out and say it, but I think he's working with Hammer."

Hearing that, Naruto glared up at the stage where said man was strutting about as if he was the second coming of, well, Tony. "The diagnostics on the new power source finished?"

Naruto could hear Jarvis in the background stating they weren't, but Tony replied. "Close enough and no negative results."

Sighing, Naruto thought about it for a moment before saying, "Guess you best suit up and get your ass over here then."

"Well that's where we run into a problem," Tony drawled. "In case you forgot, you've got all my working suits sealed up with you."

"Fuck," groaned Naruto. "How fast can you get here?"

Naruto listened to Tony giving orders to Jarvis before the man answered, "Another twenty minutes before Jarvis finishes the new modified suit. Till then, stall."

"Oh, I'm going to do more than stall," growled Naruto, as he watched the drones on stage start to move and Justin Hammer looking rather freaked out by it. "I think this time I'm going to have to go all out, Tony. Get here fast, 'cause I'm not going to leave a lot of these guys for you to play with."

Tapping the earpiece to end the call Naruto turned to a rather worried looking Naruko. "Things are about to get messy around here. I need you to get Pepper someplace safe, like right now!"

"What about you?" she asked, worry evident in her eyes. "What are you going to be doing?"

Taking off the suit jacket he was wearing and handing it to Naruko, Naruto smiled back at her. "I'm going to get wild!"

Grabbing his girlfriend and planting a kiss on her lips that left her legs feeling like jelly, Naruto released her and jumped towards the stage just as the first of the drones opened fire on the crowd. Thankfully he had his weapon pouches strapped to his sides, Naruto's hands were a blur as he started throwing kunai faster than eye could follow. He was channeling all his chakra at the moment, creating clones to fight and two that were to get clear and start gathering natural chakra in case it was needed. Still, it didn't look pretty as several of the drones took to the air and several more rose up from under the stage.

The clones were fast and agile, something Naruto would not have expected from machines that looked like walking toasters. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Naruko and Pepper giving chase to Justin Hammer, the guy seemed to be heading backstage. Naruto hoped the two would be okay, but that took a backseat to the threat the drones posed to the civilians that were trying to get away. Summoning even more clones, Naruto was using elemental wind to reinforce his kunai, allowing them to cut through the drones even easier. Still, it was tough going as the damned things just kept coming. Why Hammer had brought so many escaped him, but it was a moot point as Naruto had to take them all out. He was just working on a group that were launching rockets when his phone went off again.

Taking just an instant to tap the earpiece, Naruto barked, "Not a real good time to call, Tony!"

"It's not Tony," replied the voice of Fury. "What's your situation?"

Grunting as he leapt over a hail of gunfire from several of the drones, Naruto hit them with the last of his kunai before answering. "Not real fucking good. Hammers drones are packing a punch, I didn't bring enough kunai, and my girlfriend is somewhere nearby doing Kami knows what."

As he was talking he picked up a jagged piece of the drone's armor and started using it as a makeshift blade, coated in elemental wind chakra, to cut through more of the drones. "Tony is delayed and these things just keep coming. I need someone to find out who is controlling these damned things and stop them or a lot of people are going to die."

Naruto could hear Fury barking orders in the background before someone shouted something back. "The control signal is coming from Queens. I've got Agent Romanova and Barton on their way there now. Can you hold these things off until Tony gets there or do I need to send in the troops."

Glancing around at the number of clones he had fighting the drones, Naruto had to admit it was going to be tight. "I can handle this, but a lot of these things took to the air. Nothing I can do about them and from the sounds of it, they are blowing the hell out of the place."

"Sir," cut in the voice of Jarvis. "Mister Stark is on his way now. Estimated time to arrival, five minutes."

"Thanks, Jarvis," Naruto said with a smile. "You hear that, Fury?"

"I got it," confirmed the man. "I'll have my people start cordoning off the area and a few jets on standby just in case. Good luck, Naruto."

"Thanks, Nick," Naruto said with a smile as the line went dead. "Time to take this up a notch."

Ripping an armor pod off one of the drones, Naruto opened it to and pulled out the miniature rocket propelled explosives. Not much bigger around than standard senbon needles, Naruto started throwing them at the drones. It was a testament to his current level of strength that the damned things were moving almost as fast as they would have under their own power. Twenty drones were nothing but scrap by the time he ran out and moved onto the next ammunition pod. Several of his clones had seen what he was doing and did the same. A few of the clones were making their way towards the roof to see about the drones in the air. Things were looking up until a second wave of drones rose up out of the stage.

"Kami, what the hell was this guy thinking?" groused Naruto as he kept up the attack.

Distracted by the arrival of the new drones, Naruto felt a sharp pain in his side. Looking down he could see that one of the drones had gotten luck and managed to hit him. The wound was bad, though not as bad as it would have been if Naruto's skin wasn't currently about the same density as steel. Still, it was bleeding bad and it reduced his maneuverability. It was clear that if he got hit again it was going to be bad, so he decided it was time to step his game up a bit. Sending the command for one of the clones that was channeling nature chakra to dispel, Naruto felt a surprising amount of energy enter his system. Feeling himself shift into sage mode, Naruto smirked as he got up close and personal with the drones.

"Incoming call from Mister Stark," droned the voice of Jarvis.

"Naruto!" Tony shouted. "How's it going on your end?"

Naruto groaned as he rammed a Rasengan into the head of one of the drones. "Been better. Dance card is rather full at the moment, but I'm managing to keep up. How about you?"

"Just got here," Tony said with a grunt. "Picked up a few dance partners of my own."

Once again Jarvis cut in. "I have an incoming call from a Miss Romanova, shall I connect?"

"Patch her in," answered Naruto as he took out another drone.

"Uzumaki, I took out the control source, but it looks like whomever was controlling the drones set them to work independently before the bugged out," Romanova said sounding slightly out of breath.

"It's Valenko, he's alive and using the drones to take his revenge on me," supplied Tony. "Hold on, got to ditch my dates."

"That makes sense," replied Romanova. "SHIELD had reports from Monaco that the body found in his cell did not match the dental records of Valenko."

Naruto scoffed as he destroyed the last pair of drones in sight. "Yeah, that would have been news we could have used before all of this."

There was a loud explosion from outside, which Naruto rushed towards. "You still with us, Tony?"

"Yep, just ending the night with a bang," was Stark's cheerful reply.

"I've heard that's how you like to end your nights," Romanova snarked. "I'm heading your way now to help with crowd control. You two got the situation covered."

"Maybe," replied Tony. "Got about twenty blips on the radar and a larger one just showed up. Might need a hand here, Naruto. I'm in the biosphere."

"On my way," confirmed Naruto as he took off running.

"Romanova, find Naruko and Pepper," commanded Naruto. "Keep them safe for me, please?"

Sounding a little stunned that the man who had several times threatened SHIELD if they ever came near his girlfriend would now be asking her to protect her, Romanova said, "I will, Naruto. Don't worry about it, just do what you need to."

With that the line went dead, even Tony was gone. Rushing through the rubble, Naruto looked up and saw several drones dropping through the glass of the biosphere. He also saw a much larger drone arrive and join them. Leaping up onto the top of a kiosk, Naruto pushed the last of the nature chakra in his system to his legs, catapulting himself through the air and onto the side of the enormous glass enclosure. Glancing inside, Naruto Tony was having a tough time of it. The armor he was wearing looked only partially complete if the fact it was unpainted was any indication. It also bore signs of several hits and some severe damage to the right arm. Said damage being caused by the larger of the drones who was wielding Valenko's electrified tentacles. Dispelling the last of his clones, Naruto absorbed their remaining chakra including the nature chakra collected by the remaining clone that had been meditating. Feeling the rush of power, Naruto summoned two clones to help him form a Rasenshuriken.

"Tony!" he bellowed, hoping his friend could hear him. "Get clear!"

With the sound of the Rasenshuriken's bell like screech filling the air, Naruto watched as Tony blasted his way clear of the large drone. With as much power as he could muster, Naruto threw the spinning ball of death and destruction at the drone. Hoping the damned thing would penetrate the drone's armor, Naruto watched as the Rasenshuriken hit its target and expanded to destroy the last of the smaller drones. It was the wail of pain from the large drone that really got his attention as the jutsu shredded the figure, revealing that Valenko had been inside it. He wanted to feel bad for the man, but Naruto reminded himself that Valenko had been responsible for numerous deaths tonight and brought this on himself.

He leapt down to Tony's side once the Rasenshuriken dissipated, just in time to see the remains of the drones start flashing red. "Well, flashing red lights and high pitched beeping can't be a good sign."

"Pepper!" shouted Tony, blasting into the air.

"Oh shit," hissed Naruto. "Naruko!"

Tony had him beat by a mile as Naruto sped from the midst of the drones. There was no way he could keep up with the Iron Man armor under full power and he prayed to Kami that Tony would make it in time. He was halfway to the auditorium when the first explosion went off. In seconds the place was turned into an enormous ball of flames and destruction. Naruto prayed over and over again that Naruko was safe. He didn't know what he would do if she was hurt, or worse. It was only when he saw Tony's armor flying into the sky that he turned and headed towards them.

"Please, let him have gotten them out of there," he begged as he reached the edge of the Expo grounds.

"I have a call coming in for you, sir," Jarvis finally said in his ear as he was halfway to the building Tony had landed on.

"Naruto!" shouted Tony. "I didn't find Naruko! Pepper won't tell me where she went! There just this big ass fox she was riding!"

"Oh thank Kami!" exclaimed Naruto as he reached the bottom of the building and rushed up the side of it. "I'm here!"

Reaching the roof, Naruto ran right past Tony and Pepper and dropped to his knees, skidding several feet, to the side of the large blonde fox. "I was so scared!"

Tony, his helmet laying on the ground and sparking, watched in shock as the fox began to shrink and turned into the naked form of Naruko. Pepper proceeded to forcefully turn him away, to give the young woman some privacy as she and Naruto held each other tight, their lips locked together. Oddly enough, Tony had similar thought and a second later he and Pepper were also kissing. Naruto couldn't care less about them, all that mattered to him was that Naruko was safe.

When he finally pulled away, just enough to look Naruko in the eyes, she smiled at him saying, "I don't suppose you would mind me borrowing your shirt? I ruined my new dress and it's a bit chilly out here."

"I noticed."

* * *

AN: Told you I would see you soon.

I noticed in the movie that Tony never even considered removing the Arc Reactor and working to shield it better externally. I think that was a perfect example of how dumb a genius can be. The backpack does not play a big role, other than as an example that Naruto sees things differently than Tony.

Is Naruto overpowered? Hell yes he is, but he's not superman even if he thinks he is sometimes. Is he still capable of being a knucklehead? Oh hell yeah, but he's learning as the scene with Fury shows.

No War-Machine? Not in my story there's not. We don't need him with Naruto playing the role of partner. Not only that, but I always thought that entire storyline in the comics and in especially in the movie was a wash. Tony spends all his time trying to keep his tech out of the hands of the government and then just lest Rhodey run off with it? I don't think so. It also gives me a perfect opportunity to teach Tony the one rule he needs to learn, don't play if you can't pay.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed it and remember, reviews are welcome while flames are used to light my cat's farts. Sad, but true.

See ya!

Chris :)


	6. Chapter 5: Jolly Green Giants

**Chapter 5: Jolly Green Giants**

It was good to be home, at least that's what Naruto considered Stark Tower these days. It had been several months since the night of the Expo incident and so far things had been peaceful. Cleanup had been a chore, requiring nearly two thousand clones in addition to the same amount of civilian workers to repair the damage to the Expo grounds. Eventually things returned to normal and the Expo reopened to finish its year long run, but none of Naruto's friends really wanted to go anywhere near the place. Could you blame them?

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, mostly smart phones with video cameras along with digital video cameras, Naruto's exploits were all over the news. Fury had pulled a few strings and managed to keep the clearer pictures of his face out of the public eye, but even that didn't seem to be enough. Naruto, or as the general public knew him, Legion was currently being hailed as, "an amazing example of what one man can do with the strength of his own convictions even when out gunned." At least that's what the friendlier papers said. Several of the less complimentary papers thought he was a show boating glory hog that was a freak at best and a mutant at worst. The fact that more than a few referred to him as "Iron Man's sidekick" had both him and Tony rolling on the ground laughing.

Other things had changed as well. For one thing, Naruko had graduated from college, which allowed her to travel more with Naruto when Tony needed. Although dancing was her passion, she would be the first person to admit that she was never going to be the best at it. With that in mind she was now training with Naruto daily to learn how to defend herself if need be. The fact that she had figured out how to stop her transformation into a fox halfway helped boost her strength and agility, but Naruto still worried about her and her evident decision to fight at his side if need be. He was the last person to tell her that knowing how to defend yourself was a bad thing and he did his best to make sure she was ready for anything. Still, he secretly feared her getting hurt.

"I just don't want you to get hurt," he told her one night in bed after a rather long training session.

Naruko kissed his cheek before saying, "I'm never going to be a super hero, not like you, but I will fight for you just like you fight for me. So, help me to help you, that's all I'm asking."

"That I can do."

Another new face to their training sessions was surprisingly enough Natalia Romanova. Fury had come to the Tower by himself and asked if Naruto would be interested in training some of his senior field operatives. At first he had been a bit leery of training anyone from SHIELD, but Naruto recognized an honest appeal for help and decided it couldn't hurt. Naruto ranked her skills as that of an advanced Genin or new Chunin, but she was determined to improve. That determination may have been due to the fact Naruto could still beat her easily even after he told her to come at him with the intent to kill. Boy, was she ever pissed that first time when it took him less than ten seconds to pin her to the ground in a compromising position as Naruko giggled from the sidelines. Needless to say, Natalia worked her ass off to prevent that from happening again.

As for Fury, he was coming around a lot as well. Slowly but surely he and Naruto were developing a mutual friendship based on trust. It wasn't easy at first and they both caught a lot of heat for it, but over time they were getting to point where they could trust each other. Fury had even offered Naruto a position as an independent contractor for SHIELD, effectively a black ops spy, that Naruto had eventually accepted. So far he had only had two missions, both of which were extraction jobs to pull agents out of dangerous situations. That was fine with Naruto as he didn't want to get involved in any wet work, but admitted to Fury that he could if the need arose and there was no other choice. Fury respected Naruto's feelings on the topic and promised he would never ask that of the young shinobi unless he had no other choice.

Oh, then there was James Rhodes. Now there was a sticky situation if ever there was one. Rhodey had come by after the trouble at the Expo to apologize to Tony for his actions, but he and Naruto still didn't like each other. This was not helped when Tony told him that Naruto's remote could have shut down Rhodey's armor without the need for violence. That little revelation went over rather poorly, considering Rhodey was still wearing a cast on his arm and leg at the time. Naruto just shrugged when Rhodey asked him why he hadn't shut the armor down with the remote, saying, "You pissed me off."

Tony was back in control of his company again and working on setting up a new and improved Arc Reactor in the newly completed Stark Tower. He was also working on several new versions of the Iron Man armor, along with a project so secret he refused to tell anyone about it, including Pepper. Naruto had his suspicions in light of the fact Tony had asked to test Naruto's chakra several times, but until the man was ready he wasn't going to pry. Still, whatever it was had Tony grinning like a little boy whenever he left his workshop and that was never a good sign. Thankfully, his new relationship with Pepper had seemed to tame his wilder inclinations, so Naruto could deal with him for now.

That only left one issue for Naruto to deal with. It wasn't anything dangerous, not really. He was just trying to find the perfect ring to give Naruko. Yes, Naruto Uzumaki was going to ask his long time girlfriend to marry him. He'd been thinking about it since the night of the Expo incident, but had been worried about it due to his increased lifespan. He wanted to have a family, that was a given, but thoughts of outliving her really worried him. It was only thanks to a very strange dream that he decided to take the plunge, so to speak.

Naruto was on a jet headed to New Mexico when he drifted off to sleep. Like many of his dreams, he found himself standing in the sewer that represented his mind. He noticed that the pipes that represented his chakra had once again grown larger, with the red and blue pipes having begun to merge. The white and green pipes were now twice their previous size, though the green ones were still smaller than the others. Naruto figured it meant he was getting stronger and that in time all the pipes would merge, though how long that would take was a mystery to him.

Upon reaching Kurama's cage, the doors still wide open, he noticed that the fox was starting to look a little healthier than it had for the past few years. He still didn't know what the fox had done, but he assumed whatever it was that it had drained Kurama of every last drop of chakra. That wasn't a good thing as Naruto didn't want to see his friend die, especially if it would kill Naruto in the process. It was a selfish thought, but it was true and he wouldn't deny it if asked. So seeing the fox suddenly open it's eyes and look at him actually cheered Naruto up, at least until Kurama started speaking.

**"This is it for me, kit,"** The fox said, his voice sounding weak and tired. **"I used up almost everything I had to save you. What was left I used to modify your chakra coils, that way you won't die when I do."**

"You won't die, fuzzy butt," Naruto said with a smile. "You're too mean and nasty to die."

Kurama had laughed, a wheezing and weak laugh that turned into a coughing fit, but eventually he looked back up at Naruto. **"Shut up and listen, kit. Don't you forget me, Naruto. I may not have always liked you, but you have become a good and strong man. You keep that up and do me proud. Show these people that the former host of the Kyuubi is no one's fool. My power now flows through your veins. You're going to live a long, long time, but you won't be alone. You'll never be alone, I saw to that as well. Marry that girl. She's good for you and she'll give you lots of beautiful kits to raise."**

"No, Kurama," moaned Naruto as the fox closed its eyes once more. "Don't you leave me, too. We've come too far for you to give up now."

**"Idiot,"** growled Kurama. **"I never give up, it's just I don't always win."**

Kurama went silent for a moment and Naruto thought he was gone until Kurama spoke one last time. **"Scroll by the gate. Sign it. Try summoning. Take care... My... Friend..."**

Naruto had woken up shortly after that with tears in his eyes. He instantly began meditating, trying to disprove the dream, but when he arrived in his mindscape it was completely different. Now it looked like a version of Konoha without the people. He searched what what seemed like hours to find Kurama's cage, but there was no trace of it. He was just making his way back towards the main gates when he saw a massive scroll leaned up against it. Rushing over he opened the scroll and found it was a summoning contract for foxes. A last gift from his oldest friend it seemed, meant to replace the toad summoning contract that had not worked since his arrival in his new world. That night as he was laying on his bed at the hotel, Naruto called Naruko and got some rather surprising news.

"I had the strangest dream this afternoon while I was taking a nap," she said. "I was standing in a sewer and a fox, the cutest little nine tailed fox, walked up to me and started talking. He told me his name was Kurama and that he had a gift for me. I asked him what it was and he suddenly jumped up and bit my hand. It didn't hurt or anything and he immediately apologized. Then he said something really strange."

"What did he say?" asked Naruto, thinking this might have something to do with what Kurama had said about taking care of something to deal with Naruko.

She giggled for a moment, then answered, "He told me I was in charge of taking care of his kit from now on. He looked so sad as he said it, but his tails were wagging and he was just so cute. I couldn't resist and picked him up to hug him. He told me thank you, that no one had ever hugged him before and it was a really nice way to go. Then he just faded away and I woke up."

Naruto held back the tears, wishing he had thought to hug the old furball at least once. "Did anything odd happen when you woke up?"

"Now that you mention it, something strange did happen," admitted Naruko. "I suddenly had the urge to transform and when I did I noticed I now have three tails, not just the two. What's it mean, Naruto?"

"It means a very old friend of mine gave you his blessing," Naruto answered with a smile. "He and I weren't always friends, but eventually we saw eye to eye and became partners. Later we even managed to become friends. I just found out today that he passed away and I think he wanted to meet you, just once. It's a good thing, Naruko, he's free now and that's what he always wanted."

Tony had run the tests, as had Fury when Naruto asked him to, and it was now confirmed that Naruko had a regeneration similar to Naruto's. He still might outlive her, but from what they could tell, it wouldn't be by much. When Naruto had sat Naruko down to explain the situation, she had been about as freaked out as he had been, but they were dealing with it now and hoped that eventually things would work themselves out for the best. That being the case, Naruto was now determined to ask her to marry him, and was just looking for the right time and ring to do it.

Oh, there had been a price to Fury agreeing to keep the results of the tests he ordered for Naruto and Naruko. It wasn't anything too demanding, just a meet and greet that had introduced a new friend into Naruto's life. Steve Rogers was a lot like Naruto had once been, confused and naive with a sense of honor that knew no limits. The man was a remnant of a era that was long gone. A child of war and bloodshed with powers beyond that of the average man. Fury wanted Naruto to show Steve around, as both were new to this world and Naruto saw no problems with it. Twice a week he and Steve got together for lunch or sparing, Naruto rather enjoyed the man's company. Oddly, Steve reminded him of the Third Hokage, his pseudo-grandfather.

"Sir, I have a call coming in from Director Fury," Jarvis said, pulling Naruto from his thoughts.

Naruto got up off the ground where he had been doing pushups as he thought, grabbing a towel and his earpiece, Naruto tapped it and connected the call. "What's up, Nick?"

"Not sure yet," Fury said by way of a greeting. "Got some static out in New Mexico that's got everyone scrambling to clear up. Don't think it's anything too serious at the moment, but you never know when this type of thing can blowup in your face."

Naruto knew what project he was talking about as there was only one out in New Mexico that would have Fury sounding so tense. "Man, that sucks. You need me to call anyone for you? You know, let them know you'll be running late?"

"Not yet," replied Fury. "Just wanted you to know that I might not make it to the cookout tonight. Tell everyone I'm sorry, but save me a seat just in case."

"I got you," said Naruto with a grim expression on his face. "Sorry you won't be there. We're lighting the fire in about an hour. Hope you'll be able to make it, if you're late we'll have something hot ready to go. Don't worry, I'll take care of everything."

"Thanks," Fury said, actually sounding like he meant it. "Take care, my friend."

"You too, Nick," responded Naruto right before the line went dead.

The conversation was coded the whole way through, meaning someone was sitting nearby that Fury didn't want figuring out who he was talking to. Now that could have meant one of his assistants, as most of them didn't really approve of Naruto's attitude towards SHIELD, or it could have meant Fury was afraid of the line being intercepted by Tony. That made more sense, considering Fury loved to annoy Tony almost as much as he loved to scare the shit out of new SHIELD recruits.

The message had been simple. Shit had gone wrong at the New Mexico site where the Tessaract was being tested. Whatever was going on, Fury was evacuating his people and scrambling SHIELD before a possible explosion. Nick was going to be there doing everything he could to stop it, but had no idea what the outcome would be. Naruto was to wait and see what happened, but in case Nick didn't come back he was to gather certain people to deal with any fallout that might result. Naruto had agreed, but told Nick that if he hadn't heard from him in an hour, he was telling Tony and they were heading his way. If worse came to worse, Naruto would find out what happened and take the needed steps.

"TONY!"

"WHAT!"

Naruto ran out of his room and headed for the armory with Tony following a moment later. "Nick just called. Somethings gone sideways out in New Mexico. He thinks he's got it handled right now, but if we haven't heard from him in an hour, we're the cleanup crew."

"Oh shit," groaned Tony as he started typing into a keypad and unlocked the Iron Man Mark VI armor cabinet. "This could be really bad, couldn't it?"

Naruto just nodded as he unlocked his own weapons cabinet. Naruto had never gone for flashy armor, but that hadn't stopped Tony from having a field day with the rest of his equipment. Inside the cabinet were racks of kunai and shuriken made from the strongest alloys on the planet. Then there were the rolls of "ninja wire," actually high density mono-filament wire that Tony had created just for him. Hanging from both doors of the cabinet were multiple swords of different lengths, these were hand made by some of the greatest masters of the art. Oh, Tony had tried to replicate the masterpieces those men could create and each time they had failed. This was one situation where technology took a back seat to pure skill and experience.

"I'm going to call Steve," Naruto informed Tony as he pulled off his t-shirt.

"Do you have to?" whined Tony. "He's such a boy scout."

Naruto chuckled as he pulled the specially designed black body armor over his head. It looked like regular cloth, but it was actually woven from more of the high density mono-filament, making it damned near impossible to puncture while still letting it be flexible. Naruto had matching pants and a hooded jacket made out of the stuff, the hood had a mask that could be pulled up to hide his face if needed. All in all the whole set of clothes cost more than most houses, but it was worth it if it kept Naruko from worrying. The fact that the t-shirt was orange just made it that much more appealing to Naruto. Fastening his weapons pouches to his thighs and taking two of the wakizashi swords from the door. One would slip into sheath that ran down his spine while the other was worn on his left hip. Originally he had looked for ninjato like the ones he had used on his own world, but here it seemed they were nothing but speculation and hearsay, with no historical evidence to prove they were ever used outside of movies and fiction.

Turning around, Naruto watched as the last pieces of the Mark VI were fastened into place. "Nice thing is, with you being all bright and flashy, no one ever looks at me. You get the saddles ready, I'll call Steve."

The saddle was not really a saddle but a cargo pod for Naruto to use when they needed to get someplace faster than a regular jet. The device was a modified drag line that was attached to a small hypersonic airframe that Naruto could ride in. The airframe was controlled by Jarvis and provided a fairly smooth ride, unless Tony decided he needed to indulge in his penchant for stunt flying. The last time he did that, well, Naruto was not happy and after throwing up he had proceeded to chase Tony around the city for an hour or so. The fact that Tony was only wearing his body suit at the time might have added to the fun as people laughed at the running billionaire.

"Jarvis, can you connect me to Steve's number?" asked Naruto as he headed for Naruko's room.

"Right away, sir," replied the computer, followed a moment later by, "It's ringing."

"Hello, Steve Rogers speaking, may I ask who's calling?"

"Steve, it's your favorite sparing partner," Naruto said as he glanced into Naruko's room, finding it empty. "Just got a call from Nick. Looks like he's got some problems and isn't sure he's going to make it tonight for the cookout. We're lighting the fires in about forty-five minutes, so grab your serving platter 'cause we may need you to help dishing out something hot."

"Understood," replied the overly serious Steve. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

With that he hung up. Steve hated when Naruto called his shield a serving platter, but considering how low tech Steve's apartment was, it was easier to talk in code than to try and teach him how to use a digital phone that could be encrypted. Putting that issue to the back of his mind, Naruto was looking through their section of the Tower when he noticed the note on the kitchen counter. Giving it a quick glance, Naruto cringed. Naruko and Pepper had gone shopping again. Thanks to Tony and Pepper showing him how to invest his money, Naruto was far from poor these days, but those two women on a shopping trip could really hurt a guy's wallet.

Twenty minutes later and Steve was in the process of changing into his combat gear. Tony wasn't happy about pulling two saddles behind him, but if push came to shove it was nice to have the backup if needed. The three of them had worked together twice before, both times on rescue and humanitarian missions. This looked like it could possibly turn into the same, yet no one wanted to take any chances. If Nick was worried enough to warn them, then it was best to be ready for a fight even if it never came to that.

At ten minutes to deadline, Jarvis announced an incoming call from Fury, which had Tony ordering, "Put him through, and lock down the line, maximum encryption."

"Nick, you all okay?" asked Naruto once the connection was confirmed. "We're on a secured line, so what's going on."

Nick could be heard to sigh from the other end of the line. "I'll tell you what's going on, we just got fucked! Not just a Saturday night quickie, either. I'm talking a full blown prison gang bang! Fucking Thor's little brother just showed up and compromised several of my agents and the scientist we had working on the Tessaract. Walked out of here as pretty as you please, then caused an explosion that may have killed God only knows how many people!"

"Ummm... Colonel?" stammered Steve, shocked by Fury's analogy. "Do you need us to do anything to help?"

Another sigh was heard as Fury tried to reign in his obvious anger. "No, you and Stark can stand down for the moment. However I've got a job for you, Naruto, if you've got the testicular fortitude."

"What you need, Nick?" asked Naruto as the other two men in the room looked a little offended that they were not needed for this.

"I need you to retrieve someone for me," Fury answered. "I need you to get Banner for me. I'm sending a jet for you right now. Make sure he knows I'm sending for him, not his other half. Tell him if he helps me with this, I'll make sure he gets a clean slate when it's done."

"Who's Banner?" asked Steve looking a little confused.

Tony chuckled at the question, though Naruto could see he was nervous. "One of the most brilliant men in the world, next to me. Has some rather shocking anger management issues though."

"Yeah," agreed Naruto. "Reminds me of me, though not as bad."

That statement left everyone looking at him funny, he assumed Fury was doing the same considering the line went quiet. "I'll get him, Nick. Where you want him?"

"I need you to pick up Agent Romanova on the way back, so she'll give you the address," Nick answered. "See you then and good luck."

Several hours later Naruto was walking through the slums of Calcutta, India. He had sent out two thousand clones to get the lay of the land and learn the language. Within an hour he knew the language and every alley and dark corner in the place. Evidently Banner was working as a doctor in the area, trying to help those that couldn't afford to pay a regular physician. He entered the building Banner was currently working in, seeing that the man was treating a man and his child for Kami only knew what. A family member tried to stop him at the top of the steps, but Naruto explained he meant no harm and merely wanted to speak with the doctor.

"Who are you?" asked Banner as they walked out of the building.

"The name is Naruto Uzumaki, Doctor Banner," Naruto said with a smile. "I was asked to come see you regarding a matter of some urgency."

Banner, clearly agitated if the wringing of his hands was any indication, looked at him for a moment before speaking. "How did you find me?"

"I'm a private contractor for a group called SHIELD," explained Naruto, still as calm as could be. "I don't know how they found you, I didn't bother to ask, but it is my experience that they never really lose anyone."

"Great, just great," groaned Banner, running a hand through his hair. "Are you here to kill me, because that's not going to work out real well for you."

"Nah, I don't do wet work," replied Naruto with a smile. "I'm more of an extraction and retrieval guy. SHIELD needs me to get someone out of someplace quietly, they call me. I've never lost anyone yet."

Banner thought about that for a moment, then nodded before saying, "And are you here to retrieve me, or the other guy?"

"You're the same person, either way, so that's a dumb question," Naruto said as he pulled a smartphone from his jacket and handed it to Banner. "I was sent here because that was stolen and I'm told you are the expert in these things."

"What is it?" Banner asked as he pulled a pair of glasses out of his jacket and began to examine the data on the screen.

"It's called the Tesseract," explained Naruto. "Basically it's a source of unlimited energy with a rather uncertain background. May be alien and may be an artifact of the Gods. No one knows for certain. A few hours ago it was stolen. Nick, he's the director of SHIELD, thinks you are the most qualified person to track it down for him, so here I am asking for your help."

Banner seemed to think about that for a few minutes as they continued to walk. Eventually Naruto found a little sidewalk stall with the smell of coffee, or really strong tea, coming from it. Motioning over to the stand, Naruto took a seat and ordered two cups of the thick brown liquid for himself and Banner. He could tell that Banner was freaking out and he couldn't really blame the guy, but he wasn't going to force the guy to do anything he didn't want to. After Banner finished looking over the data he sighed, putting the phone down and taking off his glasses. A second later he slammed his fists into the table and glared at Naruto.

"And what if I don't want to come with you!" he roared. "Better yet, what if the other guy doesn't want to come with you? You going to try and stop me? That's going to get really messy."

Naruto, just shook his head as he sipped what he thought was coffee, waiting for Banner to get his little dramatic show over with. "Wow! You do have anger issues, don't you? To answer your question, I'll let you go. I was just asked to pass on the request and a promise of a clean slate if you helped. There was no mention of forcing you to come with me. In fact, since you kind of remind me of me, I'll help you get out of here if you want. It's up to you."

"You're not afraid of me, are you?" asked Banner, his face a mix of confusion and worry. "Do you have any idea who I am?"

"Oh yeah," answered Naruto with a grin. "I actually met you once before, sort of, I was in Harlem the night you defeated Emil Blonsky. I've got to say, impressive use of a police car. However, you know what really impressed me that night?"

Banner, who was looking a little shocked by Naruto's lack of fear just shook his head as Naruto answered. "I admired the fact that even though you were fighting for your life, you never hurt a single person. Well, other than Blonsky, but he was a dick and I can't fault you for that one."

"How can you be so calm knowing what I can become?" asked Banner looking around. "You don't even act as if you're worried I might lose control and hurt these people. Don't you care about them at all?"

"Let me ask you a question, Doctor," Naruto replied, his tone going hard at the insinuation that he didn't care about the safety of the people around him. "How long since your little accident?"

"Nine years," Banner replied with a shudder.

"Nine years," murmured Naruto. "Tell you what, when you reach twenty-two years, you come bitch to me. Till then, you are just talking out of your ass. I know what it's like to have a monster inside you that can wipe out everything you love. I've seen the damage that losing control of that monster can do and honestly, at one point I would have traded you demons in a heartbeat."

Turning to face Banner, Naruto drew on some of Kurama's chakra to change his eyes to red, which completely freaked the man out. "The difference between us is that you still fight against your inner darkness, while I embraced mine a long time ago and learned to work with it. If push came to shove, I'm pretty sure I could put your 'Hulk" down faster then you could blink. Thing is, I don't think I'ld have to. My gut tells me that you might have a sea of rage boiling away inside you, but you're still human enough to care if you hurt people."

"You make it sound like you're not human," shot back Banner.

"I'm not sure I am anymore," Naruto replied as he let his eyes turn back to blue. "So, will you help us, or am I helping you catch a fast train out of here?"

Two hours later they were picking up Natalia and heading back towards the states. Natalia was a bit nervous about Banner being in the plane with them, but Naruto just waved her off as he and the doctor chatted about things. Banner had a lot of questions for him, mainly to do with what Naruto had said. Naruto answered what he could, not wanting to give away any secrets about his origins, but being as honest as he could. It was really surprising to him how much he and Banner had in common. Both of them were victims of circumstances beyond their control that had left them at the mercy of their stronger emotions. Banner's problem was that he had never really found a way to form a partnership with his inner darkness whereas Naruto had. They talked about all the methods Banner had tried over there years, Naruto dismissed most of them from his own training with Jiraiya. Still, the man was trying and that was something.

"I can feel your anger even now," Naruto said eventually. "That's how you keep it under control for now, you keep yourself in a constant state of rage so that you have some measure of control. Right?"

Banner nodded, "Yeah, I took away that trigger by making it my own. Now it takes pain or a conscious effort to change."

"Not a bad idea," Naruto complimented. "Pain you can't really control, only deal with, while triggering it yourself leaves you the ability to at least aim your darkness where you think it will do the least amount of damage."

"Exactly," confirmed Banner. "If I can hold it off long enough, I can usually get far enough away from the source of the pain or rage to reduce the collateral damage to a minimum. It doesn't always work, but it's better than nothing."

"Has anyone ever tried to talk to you while you're transformed?" asked Naturo.

Banner shook his head saying, "My former girlfriend would try to calm me down, but most people are too busy running to try talking. At least that's what I gather after the fact. I don't usually remember anything but flashes from when he's in control."

"There you go again, considering your transformed state a different person," Naruto said with a groan. "I'm telling you, it's just the darker side of you, not a separate person."

"You tell me that again if you ever meet him face to face," was Banner's retort before the man turned away and tried to catch some sleep before they arrived.

"I'll do that, Doc, believe it!"

Natalia watched all of this from her seat at the front of the little jet. After hearing about Clint Barton being compromised she was already on edge, but then to see Banner sitting on the jet with Naruto had her twitching. Naruto had assured her that he had it under control, but this was Banner they were talking about and not even the blond could take on the beast that Banner became. Could they? She wondered that as she played with her private cell phone. Things were going to be interesting, that was a given. Now if only she had a few more answers and her gun she would feel much better.

* * *

**Steve's Point of View**

(This point of view inspired by "Iris," performed by The Goo Goo Dolls.)

Steve Rogers was sitting at his desk looking at the file that contained the personal records of the men and women he had served with during the War. Everyone of them was long dead, whether dying on the battlefield or of old age, they were all gone. All save one and she was the only one he really cared about. Margaret "Peggy" Carter, the woman he had thought might be the dance partner he had longed for in his youth. Peggy was still alive, living in England now, there was even a phone number to reach her at. The problem was, did he have the right to call her after so long.

The report said she had been one of the original members of SHIELD and had pushed for them to find Steve, even after everyone else gave up hope. There was no mention of her ever marrying, just a list of accomplishments and honors she had earned over the years. Peggy had lived a good life, if the report was to be believed, finally retiring when she reached the mandatory retirement age of sixty-five, but even then she had worked as a consultant from time to time. Her commitment to protecting the world was amazing, but that really was just a side note for Steve.

Did he have the right to call her, all these long years later? What would the sound of his voice over a phone line do to her? Would she be happy that he was alive or angry that he sacrificed himself and their chance together? It was hard to tell what the right thing to do was. He heart wanted to at least talk to her one last time, but his mind was adamant that doing so would cause more pain than good. He had always been a man that had remained strong in the face of hardship, but right now he wanted nothing more than for someone to understand what it meant to be so far way, years away, from everything he had ever known and loved.

Walking over to his phone, a rather simple cordless one that Naruto had gotten for him, Steve looked between the phone and Peggy's number. Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of mask sticking out of his gym bag. Sometimes he really hated that mask and everything putting it on had seemed to take from him. Bucky. A normal life. Peggy. He had sacrificed so much for his country and though he had never questioned it before his final confrontation with Schmidt, since he had woken up he questioned it all the time.

Hadn't he sacrificed enough, given up enough? He had fought his war and the price demanded of him was his life. Now, given a second chance, he was being asked to do it again. Service to your fellow man was supposed to be its own reward, but when you are alone and afraid of the world around you in the dark of the night, it seemed a pitiful thing compared to the cost. To go on, to fight for the rights of those that couldn't fight for themselves was a noble ideal, but who would fight for him? Who would stand beside him at the end of the day? When would he just be able to dance, or had the band already gone home and this was all he had to look forward to? An empty rundown apartment and the constant wait for the phone to ring, for the call to come asking him for one more sacrifice until there was nothing left. Was that really what he wanted?

"No," he whispered, a sad smile on his lips as he turned away from the sight of his mask and picked up the phone.

He was just about to dial Peggy's number when the thing rang, shocking him into dropping the damned thing on the ground. He scrambled to pick the thing up, accidentally kicking it under the couch in the process. Without thinking about it, Steve dropped the sheet of paper with Peggy's number on it as he lifted up the couch and used his foot to move the phone out from under it. Setting back down the couch, he grabbed the phone and hit the button to connect the call.

"Hello, Steve Rogers speaking, may I ask who's calling?"

"Steve, it's your favorite sparing partner," Naruto's voice said over the open line "Just got a call from Nick. Looks like he's got some problems and isn't sure he's going to make it tonight for the cookout. We're lighting the fires in about forty-five minutes, so grab your serving platter 'cause we may need you to help serve the masses."

"Understood," replied Steve, falling into his mission frame of mind. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

Disconnecting the call and grabbing his gym bag, jacket, and keys to his motorcycle. With a quick glance around the apartment to make sure he hadn't left anything on, Steve was out the door and on his way to his latest adventure. Forgotten in his haste was the report with Peggy's information on it. The call to duty had come and once again Steve Rogers, better known to the world as Captain America, had answered. In years to come he would ask himself what would have been different if he had made that phone call, but it was too late by then to change anything. Leaving Steve to wonder what was the true cost and reward of his service to a country that barely resembled the one he had been born in. For Margaret "Peggy" Carter had passed away the morning after Steve answered Naruto's call.

Unbeknownst to Steve Rogers, Peggy was fully aware of his return to life and was happy for him. She had never given up hope they would find him someday, though in her wildest dreams she had never thought Steve would be alive. Still, it was good that he had a chance to find happiness. She prayed that he would eventually be able to put down his shield and live a peaceful life, the wars long forgotten. There had been the temptation to call him, to see him one last time before her end, but that wouldn't be fair to either of them. No, Steve deserved more than to sit by the deathbed of an old woman. He deserved so much more than that. When her niece found her the next morning, Peggy had a smile on her face and an old faded picture in her hand of a dashing young man in a strange uniform.

* * *

**Natalia's Point of View**

(This point of view inspired by "Need You Now," performed by Lady Antebellum.)

Naruto and Banner had drifted off and Natalia was left fully awake and unsure of the future. Fury had told her about Clint being compromised and she didn't know what to think about it. Clint was the whole reason she was even working for SHIELD, so if he could be compromised it made her question her own worth. Looking down at her watch she saw it was a ten after one in the morning, local time, and wondered what Clint was doing right then. Was he already helping Loki to plot against them? She really wanted to talk to him, find out the truth of things. Was he thinking of her just like she was thinking of him as she sat there with everyone asleep around her except the pilot.

She glanced over to where Naruto was currently snoring, though she really doubted he was as deeply asleep as he looked. Banner was out cold and drooling on his jacket. It was so human of him and really didn't match the image she had of him. Truth be told, Banner scared her silly, but Fury said he was needed and Naruto said he would handle it if the scientist turned green and gigantic. She would deny it if anyone ever asked, but Naruto being there gave her a sense that things were going to work out for the best. He was annoying, with his power and skill that made her feel like a novice, but Naruto was a warrior and she could respect that.

Glancing back down at her watch she saw that it was now a quarter after one. Unable to hold back any longer, Natalia pulled out her private cell phone and hit the speed dial for a number she wasn't sure would pick up. Putting the phone she waited three rings before the phone picked up. The line was silent, not even the sound of breathing, but she knew he was there. He always answered when she called, so why would this time be any different. Natalia debated the merits of calling a compromised agent, then ignored them and spoke.

"Clint," she whispered. "You there?"

No reply, but she knew he was there. "Please, tell me it's not true. Tell me you aren't working with Loki."

Still no reply, but she wasn't going to give up till he spoke. "You know, I thought Fury was joking when he called. I was in the middle of an interrogation when he called."

Was that a breath, a grunt maybe, she didn't know but she wasn't giving up now. "He's going to ask me to find you, you know that, right? I don't want to fight you, Clint. Please, don't make me fight you. I need you watching my back, not on the other side. Come on, Clint. I need you!"

There was silence for a moment as she tried to reign in the emotions that were fighting to get out. She could hear him breathing on the other end of the line now, forced and heavy like he was fighting something. She prayed he was fighting whatever it was that had a hold of him. Clint Barton was one of the best men she knew and while she would fight him if she had to, she wouldn't like it. She wanted to hear his voice, the silence was killing her. Even hearing him tell her he was going to kill her would be better than the silence, at least it was something compared to the nothingness of a silent line. Finally she got her reply, though it was not the one she wanted.

"Sorry."

That was all he said before the line went dead. Natalia just stared at the phone for a moment before tucking it away in her jumpsuit. Leaning her head back she closed her eyes and tried to get her mind back in the game. Clint was lost to her for right now, but she wasn't going to give up on him. She owed him too much to give up now. Opening her eyes up again she was rather surprised to find Naruto looking at her with a sad smile on his smile.

"We'll get him back," he whispered just loud enough for her to hear. "It's a promise, Natalia."

She nodded, not wanting to admit to her weakness, but somehow she doubted Naruto would ever tell anyone. "Thank you, Naruto."

* * *

AN: Three chapters in one day? Two points of view to boot? Is he insane?

Probably.

This is the last chapter today, so I hope you enjoy it. A side note is that I didn't realize until about an hour ago that I had Natalia's name as Natasha through the whole damned story. Whoops! So, I fixed it and hope you can accept that I'm not perfect, a fact that a large number of women have told me on numerous occasions.

Yes, two points of view for this chapter, which is part of the reason the previous chapters did not have one.

Timeline is of course now fully up to speed with the Avengers movie, so no more confusion there.

Okay... I'm hungry and I've got RL issues to go deal with, namely filling the black hole that is my stomach, so hope you enjoy and see you again in a day or two.

As always, reviews are welcome and flames will be forwarded to someone who gives a shit. Said it before and will say it again, I wrote this for me, not you. You're just coming along for the ride, so hold on and enjoy.

Later!

Chris


	7. Chapter 6: Peace in the Face of War

**Chapter Six: Peace in the face of war**

Naruto was impressed at the size of the ship he was currently standing on. He had seen the blueprints for the thing when he infiltrated SHIELD, but to actually be standing on the deck of the Hellicarrier was something completely different. Steve and Tony were currently standing off to the side with Banner watching as the massive turbines lifted the structure into the air, but Naruto was more interested in the reaction of his girlfriend. That had been Naruto's condition for the retrieval, if there was going to be danger then he wanted Naruko right there where she was best protected.

"It's amazing," she shouted over the sound of the turbines.

"Not as amazing as you!" Naruto shouted back, holding her in his arms as the ship lifted into the air.

"Awwwww, they're so cute!" squealed Tony, his expression one of playfulness, as he elbowed Banner in the side. "Doesn't it just make you sick?"

Rubbing his ribs and giving Tony a dirty look, Banner just sighed and headed to where Natalia was waving for them to follow her. What followed was a long and rather boring explanation of the workings of the Hellicarrier, which Naruto only partially paid attention to. Nick greeted them all when they reached the flight deck, then pointed them towards a set of chairs at a conference table near the back of the room. Naruko ignored the chair she was offered, choosing to sit on Naruto's lap instead. Considering the glare she was aiming at several of the young women on the flight deck, Naruto figured she was marking her territory early. Steve, who was getting as many glances as Naruto was, probably wishing someone would do the same for him. Pretty soon Banner was on his way towards his labs with Tony following after, the two were talking about stuff that Naruto only barely understood based on his reading, but they seemed to be getting along.

Steve and Naruto, with Naruko keeping score, were down in the gym sparing when Coulson came to get them. Loki had been spotted in Germany and they were needed to retrieve him. Naruko gave him a kiss before Naruto and Steve headed to the armory to suit up. Tony had brought his "secret project" with him which turned out to be a modified suit of Iron Man armor for Naruto to wear. The suit, really just a small chest plate, boots, and forearm guards was designed to work off of Naruto's chakra. Tony had engraved storage seals into the forearms based off the ones Naruto used and after Naruto traced them with his blood to activate them, they now contained several thousand kunai each. The boots contained miniature repulsor emitters that could triple the distance Naruto could jump, not to mention they had shock absorbers built in to help cushion his kicks and landings when jumping from extended heights. As for the chest plate, it was more of a shirt of interlinked pieces that allowed Naruto full range of motion, but would allow him to store more weapons in seals on the sides and back. It also had a full range of communication equipment built into it that meant Naruto no longer had to worry about loosing his cell phone while on a mission, something that had already happened to him twice. As a kicker, the pieces were all painted black with an orange strip up the sides, so Naruto figured he could deal with it, for now.

"Loki was just spotted in Germany," Fury informed them as they headed towards the hangars. "Naruto and Steve, you'll be taking a fast mover to the general area, Natalia is your backup. Stark, you're their air support. Stay out of sight unless things look bad. If you think it's needed, maximum force is authorized, but remember we need him alive."

"Yes, sir!" replied Steve, or Captain America considering he had his suit on.

"Whatever, mom," Tony said as he sealed his suit and took off out the open hangar doors.

Naruto just nodded as they boarded the jet. Fury wasn't kidding when he called it a fast mover, because they were on sight in less than half an hour. It was a good thing, too, because Loki was already outside and threatening the bystanders. Natalia got them in low over a nearby building so Naruto and Steve could get out, then she pulled back as they made their move. Naruto stuck to the rooftops, getting behind Loki as fast as he could while Steve jumped down to block Loki from attacking an elderly man. That led to a fight between Loki and Steve, which Steve was not winning.

"You got this, or you want me to?" asked Tony over the open communication channel.

Naruto thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. "He's all yours. I'll get the civilians clear, you take him down, hard and fast."

"Just the way I like it," was Tony's reply as he cut into the local speaker systems and AC/DC started playing, distracting Loki.

The fight was fairly quick and far too easily won as far as Naruto was concerned. Loki surrendered then seemed to quit speaking, almost as if he was waiting for something. At least until Naruto walked over to him. Now that got an interesting reaction out of the "god" as the man pulled back with a genuine look of fear in his eyes. He still refused to speak, but now he never took his eyes off Naruto. You could almost feel his emotions as Loki turned pale.

"Don't think he likes you much," Tony said as they watched Loki try to push himself further away from Naruto.

"He was easy enough to get here," added Steve. "Too easy in fact, but once he saw you it was like he was regretting his choice."

"Yeah, noticed that," agreed Naruto. "Why is that, Loki?"

"You shouldn't be here," replied Loki, fear clear in his eyes. "This isn't your world. No, this isn't even your universe. Why are you here, demon?"

"Haven't heard that one in a long time," mused Naruto, actively ignoring the fact that everyone was not looking at him with questioning eyes. "Honestly, I haven't got a clue why I'm here. Just your luck, I am and you've gotten my attention. You may not like that, especially if your aim is to hurt the people I care about."

"Yeah, he's got a thing about that," commented Tony.

"Where did that come from?" Natalia asked just as the sky filled with lightning, causing Loki to flinch.

"Don't like storms?" asked Tony.

"No, I don't like what comes afterwards," replied Loki, just as something landed on the roof of the jet.

Tony put his helmet back on and lowered the rear access door to check it out. Right as he reached the door, a tall blond with a cape and hammer entered through the door and knocked him back. The fall managed to knock Steve off his feet, but Naruto jumped over them. Before he could react, the man had grabbed Loki and pulled him out the back of the jet. Within moments Tony had followed after them with Steve donning a parachute and jumping out the door even after being warned not to by Natalia.

"I'm the youngest one in the group and still feel like I'm babysitting them somedays," growled Naruto as he checked his weapons and armor. "Turn us around, bring us in low and fast right over their heads."

"Yes, sir," replied the pilot.

"You sure you want to do this?" asked Natalia, a trace of actual concern in her voice.

"That was Thor, the ultimate hothead," replied Naruto with a smirk. "Add Tony's ego and Steve's sense of fair play and you've got a fight waiting to happen. Who the hell else is going to stop them and keep Loki from getting away while they're distracted?"

Natalia nodded, saying, "Good point. Two minutes to contact."

Now Naruto had done a lot of really stupid things in his life. Fought enemies that could crush him in the blink of an eye. Fought battles that should have never happened. Saved reluctant princesses. Pined after a pink haired girl that never saw him as more than an annoying brother. Still, jumping out of a fast moving jet into the middle of a fight between three of the most powerful people on Earth, that one took the cake. As it was he managed to come down right between Steve and Thor right before the Asgardian hit the super soldier's shield with his hammer. Naruto managed to catch the hammer in his hand, that stung, while pushing Steve clear. He then leaned back and kicked Thor in the chest, knocking the man away from him and onto his ass. Oh, he was also still holding Thor's hammer in his hand.

"What do you three think your doing?" he demanded, looking around and seeing Loki watching the whole thing from the top of a rocky outcropping. "While you three morons are trying to figure out which one of you has the bigger dick, Loki's up there laughing his ass off. So, care to explain which one of you was going to make sure he didn't get away?"

Thor, who was staring at Naruto as if he was something out of a bad dream, kept trying to summon his hammer to his hand. Naruto could feel the hammer attempting to respond, so increased the amount of chakra in his body until the hammer seemed to give up. Tony had climbed back to his feet and was staggering over to them, obviously dazed from the battle. As for Steve, he looked ashamed with his head hanging down and shoulders slumped. Naruto just sighed, summoning up several clones to retrieve Loki, all the while wondering why the man hadn't made a run for it. It was almost as if he wanted to be captured.

"When we get back to base, we're having a long conversation about this," growled Naruto as the clones returned with Loki, who was now looking at him as if he'd seen a ghost. "Especially you two, Thor and Loki, and why you are looking at me like that."

"May I please have Mjolnir back?" asked Thor, almost pleading.

Naruto just glanced at it before tossing it back to the Asgardian. "Sure, but you start acting like a child again and I'll take it away from you. Got it?"

"Yes, I understand," replied the "god" as he looked at the hammer with a look of disbelief.

Leaving the three men and their prisoner to wait for their ride, Naruto stepped far enough away that he was fairly certain he wouldn't be over heard. As soon as he thought it was safe, he contacted Natalia on a secured line and asked to be rerouted to Fury. He didn't have to wait long before the man was on the line.

"Somethings not right here, Nick," he said once the connection was made. "Loki had the perfect chance to make a run for it and he didn't. He just sat there and waited for them to finish their little fight. I don't like it."

Fury grunted, saying, "I agree. Natalia called me right after you jumped. Loki would have had the perfect opportunity to get clear. Based on what we saw him do in Germany, he's got the ability to escape, but he's not. Loki wants to be caught."

"Underneath the underneath," muttered Naruto before speaking up. "He's got a plan and whatever it is, he needs to be in custody for it to work. That means he wants something from SHIELD and to get it he needs to be where it is. Tell me, where would you normally take a prisoner like him?"

"Here to the carrier," answered Fury. "We've got the most secure cell on Earth onboard. It was designed to hold Banner if he ever got out of control."

"And Barton would have known that, so Loki most likely knows that," Naruto thought out loud. "That means whatever they want is on the carrier. It also means we can not allow him to step foot on it."

"I agree, but I've got nowhere else to put him," argued Fury. "He's too powerful to just stick in a county lockup."

"I don't like it, Nick," growled Naruto, "this smells too much like an ambush to me.

"I agree, but there's nothing else we can do at the moment," agreed Fury. "I'll up security, ground all flights in and out, and personally sit on the man if I have to."

"No, I'll sit on him," countered Naruto. "He and Thor don't seem to like me much, so let's use that to our advantage. I'll station a platoon of clones to guard him until we figure out where the Tesseract is."

"And then?" Fury asked.

Naruto turned as he watched the SHIELD jet land. "Then we'll find a more permanent solution."

True to his word, Naruto had twenty clones guarding Loki. Much to the "god's" dislike, Naruto used a modified version of the Violet Flames Battle Encampment barrier that Jiraiya had taught him years ago. This version could be molded to a particular area depending on the number of clones Naruto used. In this case there where sixteen clones, eight on the ground and eight on the ceiling, that were forming and maintaing the barrier around SHIELD's specially designed cell. The other four clones were posted just outside the four access point to the room, preventing anyone from getting inside. With sixteen clones maintaing the barrier, they were spreading out the chakra demand and allowing them to keep it intact for twenty-four hours before dispelling. Naruto realized this wasn't a perfect solution, but it was the best he could come up with on short notice. They would just have to be extra careful when the clones dispelled and Naruto replaced them, hence the reason why he had four other clones guarding the doors.

Barely an hour into his confinement, Loki had tried playing mind games with the clones. Imagine his surprise when they didn't even acknowledge him, being deep in meditation to conserve as much chakra as possible. From the way the man was ranting and raving on the muted monitors, Loki was not happy about being ignored. As Thor was telling them a bit about Loki's background, Naruto just watched the man stalk around his cell. At first Thor wanted to head right down and talk to his brother, but Naruto just glared at the "god" and Thor backed down. Loki was going to be spending a lot of time by himself if Naruto had anything to say about it. Eventually they wouldn't need him anymore, then Naruto promised himself that Loki was going to pay and justice would be served.

Naruto woke up the next morning with Naruko in his arms. Though they had separate rooms, she didn't like sleeping alone and to be honest, neither did Naruto. The fact that Loki was onboard and things just seemed to be going too smoothly worried the shinobi. His every instinct told him this was a trap, but what was the purpose of it? There was nothing on board that would make all of this worthwhile. There wasn't a super powerful energy source here, Loki already had that. The only thing that made this place special was that it was one of many SHIELD bases and of course...

"Crap," moaned Naruto as it clicked. "The only thing here worth anything is us, the only people that can stop him. Get up sweetie, we've got to move."

"Don't wanna," whined Naruko as she tried to push her face farther into Naruto's chest. "Sleep now, play later."

Kissing Naruko, rather passionately, Naruto woke her up in the fastest manner possible just happened to be the most pleasurable to boot. "Up and at 'em, hime. We've got trouble brewing and I think it's going to be nasty."

Looking up and seeing Naruto looking about as serious as she had ever seen him before, Naruko rolled out of bed and headed for the bathroom. Naruto would have enjoyed the sight of his naked girlfriend first thing in the morning, but he had other things on his mind. That didn't mean he wasn't going to "play" with her later, but then seeing her naked always put him in that mood. He was male, so sue him. Naruto heard the toilet flush followed by running water before Naruko walked out of the bathroom, still bare as the day she was born, heading for where she had tossed her bag in a corner. Grabbing his things, Naruto took his turn in the bathroom before throwing on his combat gear. His armor was down with Tony's suit and Naruto really hoped he wouldn't need it in a hurry. Naruto quickly tied up his regular combat boots before grabbing his weapon pouches and the wazikashi he had brought back to the room with him, for emergencies.

As he was doing that, Naruko was Pulling out a pair of black shorts and a matching black shirt. Naruto recognized the material they were made out of as the same stuff his combat gear was made from. They had figured out fairly quickly that when Naruko transformed her clothing normally couldn't handle it unless she was wearing something very loose fitting, or extremely stretchy. This, along with Pepper's subtle prodding, had led Tony to make a set of clothes that could be used by Naruko that would worn by the young woman to offer her at least some modesty when she partially transformed. The shorts even had a hidden flap in the back, normally held closed by velcro, that would allow her tails to easily emerge, saving hr the necessity of constantly running around looking for something to cover herself with after a partial transformation. So far nothing stood up to a full transformation, but Tony was working on that. The last thing she grabbed from her bag was a pair of black slippers, just cheap canvas, that she could easily kick off when needed.

Turning around and looking at her boyfriend, Naruko rested one hand on her hip, leaning back on that leg and slightly bending the other one in a fashion that Naruto thought was damned sexy. "Well, how do I look?"

Naruto let out a low whistle before answering with, "Hot as hell and dangerous to boot. Let's go."

Hand in hand they ran out of the room and headed for Tony and Banner's lab. They were almost there when they heard the first sounds of arguing coming from inside. As they entered the room, Naruto was forced to separate Tony and Steve, both men looking like they were going to start swinging at any moment. He also noticed a heavy feeling in the air, like there was a weight pushing down on his mind. It reminded him of the times when Kurama had tried to take control, like his body was tensing for battle. Considering none of those attempts had ever worked, this one didn't either. Still, the sight of Banner holding Loki's staff did not bode well. He was just about to say something when the first explosion hit, rocking the entire ship. Naruto was knocked off his feet, hitting his head against the doorframe so that by the time he cleared his head, everyone was scrambling. What worried him was that Naruko was nowhere in sight, the same being said for Banner and Natalia.

"Number three turbine is down," Agent Hill was shouting over the earpieces. "We loose one more and we're going down!"

"Stark, you copy that!" shouted Fury.

Tony was already gone, probably heading for his suit in the armory, but replied over the open channel. "I'm on it."

"Coulson, initiate defensive lockdown in the detention section, then get to the armory," Fury ordered as he helped Naruto to his feet. "Romanova?"

"Where's Naruko?" asked Naruto, to which Fury just pointed out the shattered window.

"We're ok," was Natalia's reply over the radio.

Naruto created several clones, ordering them to go with Fury as he leapt out the damaged window. He landed a moment later and found Naruko attempting to free Natalia's leg from a pile of damaged pipes. Banner was laying face down a little ways from them and looked like he was fighting to get up. The amount of chakra that was pouring off the man was amazing, even by Naruto's standards. It was obvious what was about to happen, and in this confined area it wouldn't be good unless Banner could maintain some control over it.

"Banner!" shouted Naruto, "change already and get over here and help us!"

Naruto suddenly got three sets of eyes looking at him like he was crazy, with Natalia summing it up perfectly. "Are you out of your fucking mind!"

Naruto just smiled, maintaining an air of absolute calm as he spoke. "Fighting the change is not going to work this time, so aim it, Bruce. Let it out and help me to protect these people."

Whether his words reached Bruce's mind was up for debate, but he suddenly stopped fighting against the transformation and seemed to find some peace. Naruto was impressed by Bruce's transformation, though it looked like it hurt. Natalia and Naruko were freaking out, but Naruto just smiled at them and motioned for them to calm down. When the transformation was complete, the Hulk sat there for a moment, looking slightly confused until Naruto walked over to him as calmly as could be and offered the mammoth man a hand up off the floor.

"You with me, Bruce?" he asked, watching the man's eyes for any sign of aggression. "We've got work to do if you are up for it."

"Help," growled Bruce, ignoring Naruto's hand and standing up on his own.

"Good, first we need to get this pipe off Natalia's leg," Naruto said, turning his back on Bruce and walking over to where the ladies were currently looking like they were about to piss themselves. "Naruko, pull Natalia out once the pipe is..."

Bruce, or the Hulk if you like, grunted before he reached down and picked the pipe up, cutting Naruto's instructions short. With a flip of his wrist, the beast tossed the piped across the room and burying it in the opposite wall. Naruto just chuckled as Naruko and Natalia backed away from the Hulk, which seemed to aggravate the giant. Pointing up to the window they had come from, Naruto walked over and picked the ladies up, one in each arm. Looking over at the Hulk, Naruto smiled.

"Come on, big guy, we've got some smashing to do," he said as he channeled chakra to his muscles and leapt up to the window with the green man following a second later. "Fury, where do you need us? I've got the girls and Bruce with me, but I'm thinking he's going to need more room than the hallways provide, can we go through the roof here?"

Fury was quiet for a moment, then in a strained voice replied, "If you are telling me that Banner is currently big, mean, and green I'm going to shoot you."

"Yep, that's what I'm telling you," replied Naruto with an overly cheerful tone of voice.

Fury's reply was cut off by the sounds of explosions and gunfire. The Hulk, who was still looking a bit confused, was getting anxious thanks to the noise in the distance. Naruto placed a hand on the beasts arm to get his attention, then smiled at him which seemed to calm the beast slightly. Looking over at Natalia, Naruto pointed at the roof with an unasked question. She seemed to think about it for a moment, then nodded. Naruto smiled again, then looked at Naruko and mouthed, "I love you."

"I love you, too," she whispered with a smile.

Tuning back to Banner, Naruto pointed at the ceiling. "Going up, big guy. Mind making a path for us?"

The Hulk smiled, he actually smiled, before he crouched down for a moment then launched himself up through the ceiling and the deck above it, while Naruto spoke to Natalia. "You keep her safe, or you'll answer to me. Got it?"

"Got it," she answered, then turned and pulled Naruko out of the room.

Naruto sighed, praying to whatever God might listen to him that Naruko would remain safe. With that out of the way, he leapt up through the hole to follow Banner. The beast was currently waiting for him on the flight deck of the immense airborne carrier. Naruto pointed towards the nearest freight elevator, taking off with the Hulk following behind him. It was a strange sight to see, a young man leading the Hulk like someone would lead a child in a game of tag, but it seemed to work. They were almost there when they heard the distinctive sound of another of the engines shutting down. The fact that Naruto couldn't hear anything over his earpiece thanks to the sound of jets and tankers crashing into each other left him at a disadvantage.

"Two of the most powerful people in the world, sitting on top of a gigantic air carrier that's falling out of the air," groaned Naruto, turning to the Hulk. "Sounds like a really bad joke, doesn't it?"

The Hulk just cocked his head to one side, much like a dog will when it's thinking you are crazy, which made Naruto chuckle. "I want you to get out of here, Bruce. This isn't a battle you can fight, not like this, so get out of here."

"No," growled the beast, surprising Naruto as the massive man put a hand on his shoulder.

Naruto just nodded, not wanting to turn away the help. It was just then that he felt his clones that were holding up the barrier around Loki dispel. The last memory he got from them was Thor talking to someone they couldn't see, then slamming his hammer into the barrier, shattering it and releasing Loki. The resulting backlash had dispelled the clones, Naruto could only speculate that the four guards had been dispelled in the original explosion and he had not noticed because he was only half aware at that time. He was just heading towards an elevator shaft when he heard the number three engine engage, stabilizing the ship.

"We need to stop Loki," explained Naruto as he rushed towards the elevators.

In a show of his own rather impressive strength, Naruto channeled a massive amount of chakra and grabbed one side of the elevator doors, watching as the Hulk did the same with the other side. Both doors, about two tons each of heavily reinforced steel was ripped free by the two figures, before the tossed the doors over their shoulders. The resulting explosion had Naruto looking back at the sight of a now burning transport jet that had been anchored to the deck. Shrugging, Naruto jumped into the empty shaft with the Hulk following him. The landed on the top of the already damaged elevator car, crushing it even further, before the Hulk ripped the doors open. Naruto led the way deeper into the ship, the hallways just barely big enough for the Hulk to follow.

They finally reached the detention section just in time to see Coulson blast Loki through the wall. Naruto looked over and realized Loki had already vanished, so he turned to check on Coulson. The man was a mess, it was obvious he was dying from the amount of blood that was pooling around his body as he leaned up against the wall. Naruto glanced around the room, looking for some sign of who had done this and for Thor, whom he was personally going to beat the shit out of for freeing Loki. Coulson was actually looking a bit surprised to see the Hulk standing behind Naruto, but given his current condition there was nothing he could do about it.

"Loki, he tricked Thor into the cell," rasped Coulson. "Dropped him just a minute ago. Said he wanted to see if the fall would kill him. Turns out I was talking to an illusion and got a spear in the back for it."

"Crap," barked Naruto, before he turned to the Hulk. "Could you find him?"

The Hulk looked confused by the question, causing Naruto to sigh. "Okay, don't worry about it, Bruce. We'll figure it out later. Thor's too stubborn to let something like this kill him."

Turning back to Coulson, Naruto tried to think of anything that might save the man. Unfortunately, one of the few things he had no experience with was the healing arts, at least his journal had made no mention of him ever learning them. If Tsunade or Sakura had been there, Naruto was sure they would have been able to safe the man, but it was beyond anything he was capable of. It was so damned frustrating, to have all this power, but no way of using it to help someone when they really needed it. He had worked with Coulson a few times. Usually while Naruto was retrieving the target, Coulson was acting as his eye in the sky, sometimes literally. They had developed something of a friendship, though Coulson's fascination with female classical musicians and Captain America memorabilia sometimes really confused the younger man. Still, he didn't deserve to die alone, no one did. So, knowing the time was coming for his friend, Naruto sat down in front of him.

"Been a fun ride, hasn't it?" asked Naruto as he kept eye contact with his friend.

Coulson nodded with a grin. "It was never dull once you showed up. You act tough, but you're a good man, Naruto."

"I try. Anything you need me to do for you?"

"Guide them," replied the dying man. "Cap will lead them, but you will guide them. You're the heart of them. They'll need you now. This will drive them, the Avengers."

Those were his last words and as he said them, Phil Coulson died. There was a moment of relative silence, before Naruto and the Hulk both leaned their heads back and let forth roars of rage and loss. That was how Fury found them, morning the loss of a good man. Banner was changing back, till he collapsed to the ground next to Naruto, still roaring until he ran out of air. Naruto stood up, bowing formally to his now dead friend before turning and offering a hand to help Banner up. With a last glance at the body of his friend, Naruto helped Bruce towards the door.

Looking back over his shoulder at Fury, Naruto growled. "I find him and I'll kill him. Nowhere is safe for Loki now."

There were several happy reunions when Naruto reached the flight deck with Bruce in tow. They had stopped by Bruce's quarters to grab the man some clothes, taking only long enough for him to slip on his pants and a shirt before they were moving again. Naruto was happy to see Naruko there waiting for him, and the kiss he got from her showed she was equally happy to see him. Naruko explained that Natalia's friend Clint Barton had been rescued and that the redhead was currently making sure he was free of Loki's control. He was just about to ask her how that came about when Nick's voice came over the PA, announcing Coulson's death. Even Naruko, who had only me the man a few times, was devastated by the news. She held on to Naruto as if she was afraid to ever let him go, something he felt as well as he held her tightly in his arms.

"The other guy trusted you," Bruce said after a moment. "I don't remember much, but I remember that. He trusted you because you are strong and weren't afraid of him. I felt it when he was trying to change back, he knew I might be able to save Coulson, but he didn't know how to let the anger go."

"He's you, Bruce," replied Naruto, looking over Naruko's head at the man. "No matter what you think, he's still you. I knew you wouldn't hurt me and you didn't. Even when I told you to go, you stayed with me. That tells me all I need to know about you, whether you are pink and flabby or green and snarling, you are a good man at heart. We'll work on changing back later, but I know a mortal wound when I see one and there is nothing you could have done to save him. Don't torment yourself by thinking otherwise."

"I'm not flabby," complained Bruce, causing Naruko to giggle and Naruto to snort.

"Yes, you are," countered Naruto, "but we're going to fix that. Just wait."

* * *

AN: Sorry, but Phil was right, they did need a push to become the Avengers. It wouldn't work with anyone else getting killed, save maybe Naruko. Problem with her dying is that Naruto would have gone ape shit and destroyed Loki, the planet, Asgard, and a good chunk of the galaxy.

Sorry, no PoV, but I've saved the long awaited Tony one for the next chapter.

Oh, so you don't think the Hulk would act this way around anyone? Not true. Go read up on the history of the Hulk, more than once in various versions he had been a gentle giant around people that he feels safe with. Can you think of anyone that he would feel safer around than Naruto?

Two more chapters to go before the end of this little story. Hope you won't be disappointed.

Reviews are welcome, but flames will be handed over to my lawyer. He needs something to warm his cold dead heard, the bastard.

Later!

Chris :)


	8. Chapter 7: The Big Bash

**Chapter 7: The Big Bash**

An hour later they were all sitting around the conference table on the flight deck. Well, almost all of them were there. There was still no sign of Thor, but Naruto doubted the man was dead. Natalia was with Barton, making sure he was free of Loki's influence, but the rest of them were there. Nick was giving his version of a motivational speech, not that Naruto was really paying any attention to it. No, all he was thinking about was the young woman at his side. Naruko was shaken up and seemed determined not to let Naruto out of her sight any time too soon. The grip she had on his hand would have made Sakura jealous, but right now it seemed just right to Naruto. Her hand, so much smaller than his own, fit his perfectly and that was how it should be. Naruto watched Tony get up and storm from the room. Steve followed a moment later with Bruce not far behind. They had their own motivations to find, just as Naruto had found his. Standing up, he pulled Naruko up with him and headed for the doorway.

With a cheeky grin, Naruto turned to Fury, saying, "Let me know when they are ready to go. I'll be ready, but I have something to do first."

Fury nodded, they both knew what was coming, but Naruto had something important he needed to take care of. With Naruko in tow, Naruto led her back to their room. Lucky for them it was on the opposite side of the carrier from where the explosion had happened. Sure, there was a lot of damage still, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. Fury had told him they would be landing the carrier for repairs once the current situation was dealt with, but in the meantime they had to get the communications gear up and running, not to mention tend to their dead and wounded. Phil Coulson may have been the SHIELD agent they all knew the best, but he had not been the only death today. The others were focused on Coulson, but Naruto was thinking of all the men and women that would not be returning home to their families when this day was done. Loki had much to answer for.

Reaching their room, Naruto pulled Naruko inside and locked the door behind them. The young woman looked rather surprised by his demeanor, so calm and serious. He just led her over the bed and motioned for her to sit down. The situation today, losing Coulson and he knowledge that it was going to get worse before it got better had crystalized Naruto's vision of the future and Naruko was a key part of it. Going down to one knee in front of her, Naruto took her hand in his and smiled up at her. Naruko gasped, her heart rate skyrocketing and her cheeks turning red as she covered her mouth with her free hand.

"I've been thinking about this for a long time," began Naruto with a nervous smile. "I even started looking for the perfect ring to give you. Part of me used that as an excuse to put it off, nerves I guess. Thing is, today proved to me that like the poem says, 'time is the fire in which we burn.' I don't want that fire to go out before you know just how much I love you. I wondered why I came here from my original world and now I know. I came here for you, nothing else. You are the reason I fight, the reason I will never give up, and the reason I know what love really is. I don't have the ring yet, but I have my heart and it is yours for as long as you want it. So, Naruko Namikaze, I'm asking you if you can see it in your amazingly beautiful heart, to say yes to being my wife?"

Naruko was moving the second he finished speaking. Suddenly Naruto found himself on his back with a crying young woman's lips attached to him with so much passion and determination that he was fairly certain she was trying to suck his lungs out through his mouth. Wrapping his arms around her slender waist, Naruto returned the kiss with an equal amount of passion and wondered if this was what the afterlife was like, perfect. After a few moments Naruko pulled back, still laying on top of him with a grin on her face and tears in her beautiful eyes.

"I'm guessing that's a yes?"

"Screw the ring," Naruko said as she leaned down and kissed him again, though this was only a peck in comparison to the previous one. "Yes, you silly man, I'll marry you!"

The newly engaged couple were just about to seal the deal, so to speak, when there was a knock on their door. Naruko did not seem to want to let Naruto go, but he had known it was coming and no matter how much he hated it, there was still work to do. Unlocking the door and opening it, Naruto saw Steve standing there with a look of grim determination. The two men didn't need to speak, each knew what needed to be done, so Naruto just nodded before looking back at Naruko with a smile.

"I'll be back, I promise," he said, trying to reassure the young woman that everything was going to work out in the end. "Wait for me?"

"Forever," was her reply, unshed tears in her eyes.

That being said, Naruto walked out of the room and prayed to Kami that this would not be a promise he couldn't keep. Following Steve towards the armory, Naruto focused on what needed to be done. Loki had to be stopped, no matter what, and brought to justice for his misdeeds. The Tesseract had to be retrieved and the danger it represented had to be neutralized. Until those two things were done, the people that had died today would not be able to rest. As far as Naruto was concerned, if they couldn't rest, he couldn't rest. It was as simple as that.

"Stark is trying to get his suit working," Steve said as they walked. "He says he's got a new one at Stark Tower waiting to go. Since we believe that is where the Tesseract is anyway, we'll kill two birds with one stone."

"He's lying his ass off, too," scoffed Naruto as they entered the armory. "That thing was on the drawing boards when I left, so unless he had Jarvis working on it from the time we left, the thing is just so many ideas crawling around in that bughouse Tony calls a brain."

Steve stopped dead in his tracks as Naruto oped the locker that held his armor. "Are you saying he plans on going into battle in a damaged suit?"

"Hell no," replied Naruto as he started putting his armor on. "I'm saying Tony is just crazy enough to try bluffing his way through this until Jarvis finishes building the new armor. Trust me, Tony just seems like an egotistical asshole. Well, he is an egotistical asshole, but he's got a good heart even if it is mostly metal and he's one of the bravest men I know. If he thinks he can pull this off, he can. Now, what's the plan and how are we getting there?"

"Agent Barton seems to be free of Loki's mind control," Steve explained as he finished suiting up. "Natalia vouches for him, so he's going to be out pilot to the Tower."

Naruto nodded as he snapped the last piece of armor into place and started storing kunai into the seals. "What about Bruce? Is he coming as well?"

Steve sat down on a large ammo crate and tightened the clasps on his boots, saying, "He didn't want to at first, but Tony told him that it was 'time to suit up' and Banner suddenly agreed. He seems convinced that if things get out of hand, you'll be the one to stop him from doing anything."

"True," agreed Naruto as he loaded the last of his kunai in the forearm seals. "I don't think he will get out of hand, but if I have to I can stop him. I'll hate having to explain to him later why I did it, but I know he'll understand."

Naruto turned around to find Steve looking at him strangely, wondering what was wrong until Steve started to speak. "When Banner first came on board I read all about his other half, and I'll admit the man makes me nervous. If anyone else said that to me, that they could stop the Hulk, I'd think they were insane. Yet I hear you say it and I somehow know you could do it. For some reason I just believe you can do anything you set your mind to."

"Maybe," responded Naruto after a moment. "Is that any different than you? A skinny little runt that wouldn't give up until he became a hero, we have that in common. The difference is that I became jaded while you held onto your sense of fair play. I've lost that part of me and it may be the one thing I can't do, get the old me back."

They were suited up and heading to the jet when Tony, Bruce, Natalia, and Barton joined them. Naruto almost laughed his ass off at the sight of Bruce in a pair of Tony's super stretchy shorts, but if it worked then it worked. Honestly, no one wanted to see the Hulk's green junk flapping around in the wind, it was just not an image anyone wanted. Tony looked like a scrap heap on legs, with his armor sparking from random places as he walked. Naruto hoped he would be able to make it to Stark Tower, but wasn't about to voice his concerns. Barton and Natalia looked like they normally looked, or at least Naruto assumed they did since he had never actually met Barton in person before. However he did notice that Barton was wearing not one but two mechanized arrow dispensers on his back, evidently Coulson had passed Naruto's message to the man. Something else Naruto owed Phil for.

"Stark head to the Tower to get your replacement armor," Steve was saying as they walked. "We'll come in low and slow, doing a full recon of the area from the air. At the first sign of trouble, we'll head in. Natalia, you and Barton will provide backup for the rest of us on the ground if it comes to that. Remember, we have no real idea of what we are facing, so eyes open and be ready for anything."

They all agreed to the plan before reaching the jet and kicking the crewman that was working on it out the door. Naruto laughed as Steve lectured the poor young man as if he was the kid's grandfather, but it worked and they were prepping for takeoff as Tony took off ahead of them. They were off the carrier and on their way before anyone could stop them, not that Nick would have let them. Naruto's thought were of Naruko and the hope that he would see her again. Remembering Coulson's dying words, Naruto keyed open his communication equipment so Tony could hear him.

"With Loki having an army at his command and an ego larger than Tony's, we are possibly heading towards war," he said softly, looking down at his hands. "I thought my days of fighting wars was over. Honestly I prayed they were. I just asked the woman I love to marry me and she said yes. What really sucks about that, I'm not with her celebrating. No, I'm in a fucking jet heading towards the asshole that killed one of my friends today. Only thing that's keeping me from turning loose with everything I have and destroying that asshole is the fact that at my side I have my friends, new and old. Behind me, I've got the people I have to protect if I want to be the man I know Naruko deserves. So, here I am. Riding of to war, again."

Looking up at the people around him, Naruto smiled. "Today we may fight and we may die, but we will protect those that we hold dear even if it cost us our lives. Sounds so cliched, but that doesn't stop it from being true. Today we are no longer individuals fighting for our own beliefs. A good many men and women died today, one of them was my friend, but all of them are important. Never forget what they fought for, what we fight for. Today we are more than mere individuals, today we assemble to fight a common enemy. TODAY. WE. ARE. AVENGERS!"

His team, no, his friends cheered at the end of Naruto's little speech. Steve nodded to him and acknowledging the fact that he realized the same thing that Phil Coulson had. Steve would be their leader, but Naruto would be the heart of the group offering support when they needed it and a moral compass that would not waiver. Yes, Naruto would be the heart, but they would be the body that would support him when he was ready to fail. They would be his team and his family, which was all he had wanted all along.

"FUCK YEAH!" roared Tony over the com system. "Now that's a motivational speech that even Mel Gibson can't top!"

Minutes later they were circling New York watching for any sign of trouble. Sure enough, trouble showed up in the form of a beam of energy and Tony confronting Loki. They heard what Tony had to say and it took everything Naruto had not to jump out of the jet when Loki tossed the man through a window. They watched as Tony's newest armor rocketed out the window after him, saving him at the last possible moment before Iron Man streaked back up and began attacking the enemy forces. Thor had called them the Chitauri, but Naruto thought they looked like something out of one of the bad japanese manga that Naruko loved to read.

While Tony was trying to take the fight to the enemies before they could hit the ground, Natalia and Barton were firing on Loki using the jet's mini-cannon. Too bad Loki had a cannon of his own which he used to blow up one of the engines keeping them in the air. Barton managed to make it to the ground, keeping them all in one piece, but it was a close thing. They had just gotten clear of the downed jet when they saw something coming out of the air and landing on top of the Tower. Naruto recognized the figure as being Thor, meaning they had the whole team together now. Good thing as the enormous... Carrier... Whale... Thing was int he process of launching troops as it made it's way along the street.

"There are civilians down there," stated Steve.

"Go, we've got this," replied Natalia with a smile.

Barton nodded as he drew his bow, watching as the first of the Chitauri foot soldiers approached. "I'm going to take great pleasure in this."

Steve was just about to take off when Naruto stopped him. "Let me get you some help."

Biting his finger to let the blood flow, Naruto went through the familiar hand signs before slamming his palm down on the ground and roared, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

The area was suddenly filled what sounded like popcorn popping along with puffs of smoke. When the smoke cleared the Avengers looked a bit confused by the sight of fifty human sized foxes sitting all around them. On the SHIELD carrier, which had just gotten it's communications software running again, Naruko gasped as she watched the feeds from the various security cameras and news feeds. She watched as the largest fox, coal black with white on his underbelly and ears, bowed before Naruto. The fox had six tails, where the rest had five or less, and it carried about it a sense of power and confidence. If she could have heard what was happening, she would have been even more surprised.

Back on the street the fox bowed to Naruto, shocking everyone when it suddenly spoke. **"What are your orders, Uzumaki-dono?"**

Grinning, he had just pranked his friends in the middle of a war zone, Naruto looked at the fox. "See the ugly bastards wearing the crapy armor and blowing shit up?"

**"Hai!"** replied the fox, looking around at the Chitauri.

"Well, don't let them hurt anyone," ordered Naruto. "Protect the innocent, but leave none of the Chitauri alive! Kill them all!"

Every fox present bowed with wicked grins on their faces, all of them shouting,** "HAI!"**

The foxes split up, tearing though the Chitauri in their paths like a sword through water, with the other Avengers looking at Naruto like he was crazy. Naruto just grinned as he watched the foxes tearing up the alien forces. Kurama's last gift might not be able to help him get back to his original world, but it was going to allow him to save his new home. Turning to face the others, Naruto grinned.

"I'll explain that later, but for now we have a new set of allies in the game," he said as he adjusted his armor. "Now, Steve, you were going somewhere and you should really be on your way."

"Yeah, be safe," Steve said, jumping off the raised road they were on and heading after the foxes.

"You two, can you keep the rest of these idiots busy?" Naruto asked as he continued to check his equipment.

"We've got this," Barton said with a smirk, firing an arrow that somehow managed to kill six Chitauri.

"Good," Naruto said with a grin, finally standing up straight and looking up to where Tony was leading the flying whale thing around. "Tony! Bring that big anchovy to us!"

"Us?" asked Bruce. "Don't you mean me?"

Naruto shook his head, creating two clones to head off and start gathering more nature chakra. "Not this time. I don't need to spam the area with clones, not with you guys at my back. So, this time, it's you and me doing some real damage. So, as Tony says, time for us to suit up."

"Anchovy on it's way," Tony said over the open channel. "Hope you got this one, cause I can't scratch it."

"We got it," replied Naruto as yellow chakra began to pour off his body and his eyes turned orange. "Bruce, you might want to change."

They were watching, as best they could with a giant flying whale coming at them, as the yellow chakra started to take form around Naruto. Suddenly it seemed to split around him, forming a long coat like structure, revealing the black armor that Tony had made for Naruto. The armor itself seemed to be changing as well, forming into a solid black under armor with white geometric patterns on it. Finally, nine tail like appendages appeared behind him, making Naruto a very imposing looking figure. Years later Natalia would tell her children that it was the first time she knew, without a doubt, that they were going to win. They were going to win because Naruto Uzumaki was on their side and it was just that simple.

"Let's go!" commanded Naruto, taking off and running towards the beast that was now running towards them.

Bruce followed right after him, shifting into the Hulk as they ran. At the last possible instant, Naruto leapt into the air while Hulk pulled his fist back. Hulk punched the mammoth best in the snout, stopping it dead in its tracks while Naruto slammed down into the beast's body, cutting its head clean off. That had the Chitauri screaming for their blood, but Naruto didn't care. He leapt up to one building, taking the aliens apart with his bare hands, while Hulk leapt in the opposite direction and did the same. Natalia and Barton watched all of this for a split second before resuming their defense of their current location.

Naruto was cutting through the enemy at an incredible rate. Kurama's gift had allowed him to fight like this and Naruto wasn't going to let it go to waste. He battled through the heart of the enemy, leaping from building to air chariot, or whatever the things were, and back to building. In his wake was a path of broken alien bodies and burning wreckage. He listened as Tony announced Thor's arrival on the scene, injured but still fighting. As he killed two more Chitauri, he heard Hulk's earpiece pickup what sounded like laughter, something that not even Naruto associated with the raging beast. The enemy was still coming and it looked like three more of the flying whale things.

Naruto watched as Steve was blasted out of a building, one of the Chitauri had detonated a bomb. Steve looked okay, but Naruto made sure to clear the area around him, just in case. Barton was making some incredible shots from the top of one of the buildings while Natalia was kicking ass at street level. Steve made his way back to where Natalia was, but it looked like Natalia had run out of bullets and was now using the enemy weapons as a backup. Thor chose that moment to show up, injured but still fighting. He didn't know what Steve said to the "god," but a moment later Naruto watched as Thor was heading for the top of the Empire State Building. Now that was a light show, as Thor was literally throwing lightning at the enemy portal to stop their advance.

Naruto kept going. The fighting was getting repetitive as the Chitauri did not seem to be the most creative beings around. He and the Hulk leapt past each other, each destroying the air chariot that was following the other. While the Hulk crashed through a window and took off running for some reason, Naruto was preparing a Beast Ball to throw straight down the throat of another of the flying whale thingies. Really, what were these things and how the hell many of them did the enemy have. It didn't matter as a second later the thing was swallowing a Beast Ball whole, which was probably a bad idea since it then turned into a flaming ball of gelatinous goo. Naruto would have patted himself on the back if he hadn't just then watched Natalia go streaking by on the back of an air chariot.

"Natalia, what are you doing?" he asked over the still open channel.

"Sight seeing!"

Naruto shrugged, figuring she had everything under control if she could still joke around. "Pick me up a souvenir?"

"Will do!"

Naruto watched Thor and Hulk pass him on the back of a sky whale when he heard Steve call his name over the com. "Naruto, the leader of the foxes says they are out of energy and heading home."

"Tell him I said thanks and there are a lot of steaks waiting for him and his friends when this is over," replied Naruto as he hit six more Chitauri with kunai.

"Leader says you better not break that promise," Steve repeated over the com. "He's gone. Anything else you have hidden up your sleeves?"

Naruto dove through a barrage of enemy fire, taking the battle straight to the enemy. He had five down and four more charging before he created a perfect Rasengan and drove it into the roof at their feet. The explosion knocked them back and over the edge of the roof, giving Naruto a chance to catch his breath. More flyers were coming and it looked like two more shy whales. This was getting crazy, with no end in sight. Sure, he had nearly unlimited chakra since Kurama's passing, but even he could get tired. Eventually they would all get tired and make a mistake. When that happened, the war was over because these beasts were not going to stop till they were all dead.

"Got a few left," admitted Naruto. "Not going to do us any good if we end up dead."

"NARUTO!" screamed a voice, a voice that shouldn't be on this channel. "Someone is trying to order Director Fury to launch a nuke on Manhattan!"

"Naruko, I'm not even going to ask how you got on this channel," replied Naruto, more than a little pissed now. "Is Nick going to do it."

"No," replied Naruko. "He said it was a stupid idea and hung up on them. Oh, and I asked Jarvis to patch me into your channel. What should I do now?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment before answering. "You do whatever Nick tells you to do. You are his shadow, you hear me. If he jumps, you do the same. Stay near him and keep him safe. I doubt the Council is going to let this go so easy. Keep me informed."

"Got it," she said, then giggled. "You sound so sexy when you are giving orders. You better get back here in one piece so I can show you just how sexy."

"Ummm... Miss Namikaze," interrupted Steve. "Maybe you should keep that conversation for a private channel, or better yet your own room?"

"Yeah, Naruko," added Tony. "You're going to make Steve blush."

The very clear sound of a Bronx Cheer could be heard. "Screw you, Tony. You bring him back alive or I'll kick your ass, armor or no armor. Same goes for you, Steve. I love you, Naruto."

"Love you, too," replied Naruto as he killed two more Chitauri. "Now go keep Nick company."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a chariot coming at him with Natalia riding on the back of the pilot. A second later and another chariot passed him only this time he recognized the passenger as Loki. Pulling out a kunai, Naruto threw it as hard and fast as possible. He noticed that Barton had done the same from his vantage point. Loki caught Barton's arrow, but not Naruto's kunai which buried itself in Loki's shoulder, causing the "god" to scream in pain right before Barton's arrow exploded. Naruto was about to chase after him when he saw Hulk leap up at the building. Thanks to Bruce's earpiece, they all heard Loki's little rant about being better than them. This was followed by several loud crashes and then silence until they all heard the Hulk speak.

"Puny god."

"Bruce," Naruto asked as he made his way towards ground level and the others, "did you just beat the shit out of Loki?"

"Hulk smash," was the reply from the deep voice of the beast, but Naruto was positive he could sense the smirk on Bruce's face even from this far away.

"Good work."

"Iron Man down!" shouted Barton. "He took out a whale, but he's down. Not getting up and enemies incoming."

"On it," replied Naruto as Barton gave him the directions to get to Tony. "How you doing up there?"

"Running low," Barton responded. "I'd be out by now if it wasn't for Phil's suggestion I start carrying more arrows with me."

Naruto wasn't about to tell him it was his idea, let Coulson have the credit for this one. "How about the others?"

"Natalia just made it to the roof of the Tower," Barton reported, the sound of battle heavy in the background. "Hulk is pinned down, at least for the moment. I've got to get off the roof, their coming in too thick and I'm about to get overrun. Heading for street level. Good luck."

Naruto was almost to Tony when he watched his friend launch into the air and heard Naruko call him over the com system. "They launched one! The Council, they ordered two pilots to launch nukes on Manhattan and the guys followed the order. We stopped one, Naruto, but the other one got away. Director Fury told Tony, but you've got to get out of there!"

"Can anybody hear me?" called Natalia's voice over the com. "I can do it! I can shut the portal down!"

"Do it!" ordered Steve, but Tony cut him off.

"No, wait!"

"Stark, these things are still coming!"

"I've got a nuke coming in that's going to blow in less than a minute," Tony explained, causing them all to go silent, "and I know just where to put it."

"Stark," Steve said after a second. "You know that's a one way trip?"

"Save the rest for the turn, J," ordered Stark over the open channel.

"Jarvis! Private channel to Tony, now!" Naruto said, rushing towards Stark Tower as fast as he could. "What the hell are you doing, Tony?"

"I'm following some advice I got earlier," answered Tony, though he was sounding a bit nervous. "See, my best friend told me that we fight to protect those we hold dear, even if it means our lives. I'm just living up to his words."

"Oh great, now you get fucking noble on me," groaned Naruto. "There has to be another way."

"Nope," countered Tony. "This thing can turn on a dime. I either ride it all the way through, or it will just turn around and detonate."

"Pepper?"

There was a pause as Naruto watched Tony and the nuke streak overhead. "She's not answering her phone. Figures, she practically lives with that thing in her hand and the one time I really need to tell her something, she's doesn't answer."

"What do you need me to tell her?" asked Naruto, watching Tony and the Nuke going into a steep climb.

"You know what to tell her," responded Tony. "Jarvis has a few video files saved. Watch them later, password is 'brother.' He'll release _everything_ to you then. Take care, Naruto."

"Signal lost," Jarvis said before Naruto could reply. "Trying to reacquire."

Naruto kind of lost it at that point, tearing through Chitauri like they were made of paper as he headed for Stark Tower. He glanced up and saw the detonation of the nuke through the portal, waiting for Tony to come pop up at any second. Then he heard Steve give the order to close the portal as the gigantic ball of nuclear fire expanded towards the opening in space. The Chitauri had dropped like puppets with their stings cut when nuke went off, but Naruto had one more person to confront. Still on the private channel, he was completely unaware as the Hulk grabbed something from the sky. No, Naruto was focused on someone else. Loki.

Reaching the top of the Tower, Naruto was through window and heading straight for Loki, who was just now managing to pull himself out of the hole the Hulk had put him in. Unfortunately for him, he should have moved faster as Naruto slammed a fist down into the "god's" face that drove him right back into the ground. If the Hulk hurt him, then Naruto damned near killed him, as he beat Loki into a bloody pulp. The sounds of the man screaming in pain was enough to make Naruto pause, his hand wrapped around Loki's throat, and a Rasengan ready to demolish the man's head.

"Why?" growled Naruto, his voice sounding dark and demonic in much the same way Kurama's had. "Why did you do this?"

"I wanted my father's respect," Loki replied easily. "I wanted to show him I was just as powerful as my brother."

Tightening his grip and cutting off Loki's air, Naruto spit in his face. "Respect? You think he would respect you for this? This act of cowardice? You didn't fight this war, you just sat back and watched as other's did it for you. That is not an act worthy of respect. You caused the deaths of innocent lives, including two good friends of mine. That is also not an act worthy of respect. No, all you have earned here today is your own death at my hands for your crimes."

"You think you have the right to judge me?" scoffed Loki. "I know who you are, Naruto Uzumaki, of should I call you Kyubi! Before my fall from grace, I would watch your world thanks to Heimdall allowing it. I watched you grow from a buffoon into a warrior, and I wished to be like you. I modeled my life after you, your motto of never giving up and your desire to be Hokage to gain the respect of the people. When I watched you fall and the demon take you over, I vowed to succeed where you failed. Now, here we are, I the fallen king and you the demon in human guise. Will you kill me as you've killed so many others, demon?"

Naruto was stunned, letting the so called god fall to the floor. He looked down on him and thought about what he had said. Part of him was shocked to think this being had tried to model his life on him, only Loki had twisted what he had seen and made a mockery of everything Naruto had attempted to achieve. How do you react to that type of thing? Yes, he had held a demon at bay, but hadn't he made that demon his partner and friend at the end. Hadn't Loki learned anything from what Naruto had gone through?

"Naruto Uzumaki," called a voice, causing Naruto to turn around just in time to catch something that had been thrown at him.

Looking down, he saw Thor's hammer in his hand and he looked up to see his friends standing there with smiles on their faces as the blonde thunder god spoke. "Nay, no demon could hold Mjolnir. Only a good man, a man worthy of it, may wield my hammer. So, no brother, he is not the demon you clam him to be."

Loki was looking at the hammer in Naruto's hand with utter disbelief, finally it was too much for the man and he broke out in laughter. Naruto and the rest of the Avengers were a little confused, save Thor, by the significance of what had just happened. Naruto really couldn't ahve cared less, considering he was looking at the smiling face of a very obviously alive Tony Stark. Sure, it wasn't what "real men" did, but Naruto was too damned glad to see his friend alive to really care about any of that at the moment. Tossing Thor's hammer to Steve while Thor secured his brother, never seeing Steve catch it easily and look rather confused as he held it, Naruto hugged Tony for all he was worth. The fact he hadn't released his chakra may have made it a bit awkward, considering the sound of metal squealing, but Tony returned the hug as Naruto returned to normal.

"The password is brother?" he asked a little while later after Loki had been taken into custody by SHIELD.

"Yeah, well I always wanted an annoying younger brother," explained Tony. "You just happened to fit the bill, so sue me."

Naruto smiled, patting Tony on the back. "Thanks, brother."

"Don't go thinking I'm getting soft or anything," Tony replied, his voice a little thick. "Now come on, we're going for shawarma. Naruko is meeting us there."

Naruto just laughed, but had to ask, "What the hell is shawarma?"

"No idea, but I've never had it before and I think now is a great time to try it," Tony said as he headed for the freight elevator.

Naruto laughed as he followed. "What the hell, you only live once."

* * *

**Tony's Point of View**

(This point of view inspired by "Everything," performed by Lifehouse.)

It was over, the suit was shutting down and he was falling through the depths of space. He glanced at the display showing the connection to Naruto was lost, but most importantly the connection to Pepper. As the suit went black, the cold of deep space already seeping into it, Tony could only see one face in front of him, Pepper. He really wished he could have talked to her one last time, but if life had proved anything to him it was that you didn't always get what you wanted.

Since the Expo he had wanted to say so many things to her, but he was scared of messing things up and had kept his mouth closed. We, as closed as he ever kept his mouth. He joked with her and he let her in as much as he dared, yet he hadn't been able to tell her the important things. He wanted to tell her that she was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. She was the one thing in his life that made him want to be a better person, to be the person she deserved rather than a spoiled rich brat that had never grown up. He wanted to be a good man, for her. He knew he would never be perfect, but for her he would have tried.

He watched as the ball of nuclear fire raced towards him, hoping it would be warmer than the bone numbing coldness that he felt now. Closing his eyes, Tony imagined himself standing on a beach holding hands with Pepper. In the distance he could see Naruto and Naruko playing in the water. Steve and Rhodey were there as well, drinking beer next to a grill where Happy was cooking. Off to the side, his father and mother were sitting in lounge chairs enjoying a cold iced tea, at least that's what they were telling people it was. Everyone was laughing when Barton chased Natalia down the beach with a supper soaker, the woman in a black bikini and trying to reach a pail of ice cold water before Barton could hit her again. Even Fury was there, though he was wearing a set of pink swim trunks, must have been a prank of Naruto's because the blond was laughing his fool head off. Tony was laughing, so was everyone else.

He was looking at Pepper when he saw Phil Coulson arrive. At the man's side was a beautiful young woman carrying a cello case. It was good to see Phil so happy and from the look on his face, the woman was the reason for it. Tony didn't think it could get any better. Only one thing was missing, but then he heard the sound of children laughing and he looked over to see two children playing in the sand near the waterline. The girl had read hair and his eyes, while the boy had dark hair and Pepper's nose. Their children, the ones he had never admitted he wanted, but really did. Honestly, he had wanted to be a father for a long time, but the one woman he wanted to be their mother had always seemed out of his reach.

Pepper didn't care about the money. Fancy dresses and expensive jewelry meant nothing to her. She could care less about the fancy houses or the trips around the world. No, Pepper could leave all that behind her and be happy living in a little house, wearing cut off jeans and his shirts for the rest of her life. Some would have thought her crazy for not needing the money, but Tony thought that was part of what made her perfect. Yes, perfect was exactly the word for her and as he looked around he wondered if it could get any better than this?

"Tony," called a voice, causing him to turn around a look into the face of Phil Coulson. "As happy as I am to see you again, you really can't stay here, you know that. You've got work to get back to."

"No, I'm done," Tony insisted. "My work is done and I'm ready for a vacation."

"Sorry, but not right now," countered Phil with a sad smile. "You're still on the clock. Don't worry, you've got people to help you now, so while it may still be hard work you will not be alone."

Tony sighed, looking back at the kids with a sad smile. "Do I have to?"

Phil Coulson smiled at him, the same sad smile he always had. "I'm afraid so. Don't worry, someone will be there to catch you."

"What's that mean?"

"You'll see," was the only reply he got before there was a deafening noise like a lion roaring right in his face.

Tony opened his eyes instantly, seeing the Hulk, Thor, and Steve leaning over him. Instantly he knew he was still alive and from the look on the crowing Hulk, the big green softy was responsible for it. Part of Tony hated it, being back here again after what he had seen, but it was true. He focused on the dream one last time, memorizing the faces of the children before he pushed the dream away. Maybe he would see the again someday, only this time they would be real. Until then, he had work to do and he really needed to see Pepper once she got back from Washington D.C..

"What happened?" he asked, trying to act like nothing had happened. "Please, tell me no one kissed me."

Yes, he was back and as usual he hid the real him under the illusion of a hyperactive playboy. Someday he hoped he could let it go, move on to a better way of living. If there was a God in Heaven, Pepper would play a large role in that life. Until then, he had things to do and people to annoy with his crazy antics and strange ramblings. It was a part he could play well, but it was also a part Pepper could see though. That alone told him she was the one he wanted with him through thick and thin.

"I think we won," answered Steve.

_"Not yet,"_ thought Tony. _"I've still got a lot to do before I win. Please, be patient, Pepper."_

* * *

AN: Finally, the long awaited PoV of Tony Stark. Sappy? Damned right it is, but based loosely on Marvel canon.

I just about shit myself the other day when a reviewer asked me if Naruto would go full Tailed Beast mode. Checked my house twice for bugs or cameras. Just found my own, so I'm good. I will say this, Kurama is dead. Sorry, but the death played a role as did Naruto taking Thor's hammer from him earlier on. The scene with Loki was the whole point of both, Naruto is a good man and only a good MAN can wield Mjolnir. To that end, Naruto needed to be one hundred percent human.

One more chapter to come, though you'll have to wait because I am seriously debating another PoV I wrote. If I add it then you'll probably hate me. Well, you might hate me as well, but I'll deal with it.

Anyway, as always, reviews are welcome and flames will be shipped to China where they are added to dog food as fiber.

Later!

Chris :)


	9. Chapter 8: Thank You for Playing

**Chapter 8: Thank You for Playing**

* * *

It was a week after the big battle and Naruto was looking out his window at the destruction around Stark Tower. They were still trying to remove the bodies of the gigantic flying whale things. The smell was damned ripe, meaning they were heading back to the west coast tonight. That was fine with Naruto considering the number of repairs that needed to be done on the Tower. Bruce had done a number on Naruto and Naruko's apartment, not on purpose, slamming a demi-god into the floor above had caved in most of the ceiling. The recording Jarvis made of the Hulk saying, "Puny God" had been worth the mess. Even Bruce had to laugh once he heard it and the story behind it.

There was just one thing to deal with here before they left. Thor was going to be taking Loki and the Tesseract back to Asgard today. The consensus was the Tesseract was just not something that needed to be in the hands of mortals, and with it back in Asgard they would have enough power to rebuild the Bifrost Bridge. Thor was trying to act as if that wasn't a big issue for him, but everyone knew he had a mortal girlfriend he wanted to return to, something he would be unable to do without the bridge. Loki on the other hand was not as happy about returning as his brother was, but screw that little bitch. Naruto had tried talking to him one more time after his defeat, but Loki was still a bit messed up. Okay, Loki was bughouse nuts, but that wasn't Naruto's fault.

Oh, Thor explained the whole being able to carry his hammer thing. Odin had enchanted Mjolnir so that only people worthy or wielding it would be able to even lift it. To prove his point he challenged everyone to attempt lifting it. Tony couldn't budge it even wearing his most powerful armor yet, a fact that had him running back to his workshop. Natalia tried next, but Naruto could tell that she didn't really try, probably not really wanting to know whether she was worthy or not. Up next was Clint Barton who thought he would get smart and push the handle to the side in an attempt to get his fingers under it. Luckily he failed because Naruto was pretty sure he wouldn't have fingers if he had managed to get them under the thing. With permission from Thor, Bruce took two turns. First he tried it as himself, then with Naruto standing nearby to keep him calm, he willingly changed into the Hulk and tried it again. Naruto was the one to explain it to the beast like side of Bruce's personality and told him to give it his all. Hulk actually grinned as he tried it, at least until he failed to lift it. He tried for a full minute, getting angrier and angrier, until Naruto calmed him down and offered to arm wrestle with him instead. Thankfully Naruko stepped in at that point and stopped them both before they could wreck anything. The fact that she was no longer afraid of the Hulk and told him in no uncertain terms that there would be no arm wrestling, but she had chocolate chip cookies for him if he behaved had everyone looking at her as if she were the bravest woman in the world. It took six dozen cookies and three gallons of milk before the Hulk finally had his fill and dozed off sucking his thumb, reverting to Bruce who continued napping through the final two tests. Naruto had the pictures to prove it.

The final two tests, were fairly quick, though the last one had a few people looking at Steve in a new light. It started with Naruto picking the hammer up as easy as you please, but then he tossed it to Steve who caught it with a stunned look on his face. Everyone just stared at Steve as he held the weapon of the gods in his hands, stammering about not being worthy until Naruto told him to shut up and give Thor back his toy. Finally Naruko relented and allowed them to arm wrestl, seeing as how Thor wanted to see just how strong Naruto was in comparison to the Odinson. Imagine Thor's surprise when his hand was pinned to the table faster than he could blink. Twenty-five rematches later and he was convinced, Naruto was stronger than him. Tony just laughed, admitting that he had suspected it all along based on the fact Naruto could shred his armor with his bare hands. That lead to a second test of strength, which led to another, before Naruko called them all to lunch stating they had "proven they had dicks" enough for one day.

The next morning was the send off for Thor and Loki. Fury had warned them to keep it low key as they had attracted a bit too much attention during their battle. Naruto provided a distraction by sending several sets of clones disguised as his fellow teammates to various sites all over the city. While the clones distracted everyone, the Avengers made their way to central park where Thor inserted the Tesseract into a specially crafted device for transporting himself and Loki back to Asgard. After several warm goodbyes, and Naruko kissing the blushing Thor on the cheek, the device engaged and Thor was gone.

Naruto watched everyone head off to their own destinations, just standing there with Naruko and smiling. Bruce was going to be working with Tony at Stark, the charges against him having been completely dropped. Meanwhile, Steve had asked for and been given permission to take a road trip around the country in the hopes of coming to better terms with this new country. Barton and Romanova were going back to work at SHIELD, but Naruto knew they were also just glad to be back on the same side. AS for Naruto and Naruko, well they had plans for a trip to Japan to look into Naruko's family and see if any members of the family still lived there. All in all, it was a good ending to a fantastic adventure even if Fury wanted them all to be on call all the time.

"Naruto," Naruko said as they walked through the park, "I was thinking. How does May sound for out wedding?"

Naruto shrugged, not really caring one way or the other so long as Naruko was happy. "It's up to you. I still remember Granny Tsunade telling me that weddings are about the bride, not the groom. So you pick the time and place and I'll be there. All that matters to me is that when it's all over, you and I are together for the rest of our lives."

Standing on her toes to kiss his cheek, Naruko smiled, saying, "Then we make sure we are back by the first of May, then we can finalize the preparations and be married and on our honeymoon before anything can go wrong."

"Sounds like a plan," agreed Naruto. "We get married in May, but I don't think we'll have to worry about anything going wrong."

"Never say never," whispered Naruko as they walked off into the distance.

The End... For Now.

* * *

**Final PoV's**

(This point of view inspired by "Jar of Hearts" by Christina Perri.)

She watched from the shadows as Naruto and the bitch on his arm walked away. It was a perversion that Naruto should end up with some living version of that twisted technique of his. That was fin though because very soon she would make the little tramp pay, pay with her life. No one would take her Naruto from her! NO ONE!

(This point of view inspired by "Cinderella Man" by Eminem.)

Fury was standing looking over his crew as they worked their asses off to get the Carrier back up to snuff again. Naruto had been kind enough to loan him several hundred clones that were currently working on removing debris. Yes, Shield might be down, but they were not out and as God was his witness they would rise from the ashes. With the Avengers and Naruto, SHIELD would be there long after Nick Fury was gone and they would protect the country he loved so much.

"Hill!" he shouted at his second in command. "Get us back in the air as soon as possible!"

"Yes, sir!"

Turning and walking back out of the control center, Fury actually let a small smile grace his lips. Yeah, things were a mess now, but they were getting better by the moment. Soon they would be back up to full strength and then watch out anyone that wanted to try and harm the country and people that Fury cared about. He would protect them and give his life if need be. It would be a sacrifice that he would hate to make, but he would make it all the same if that was what was needed to keep everyone safe. However, before it came to that, he had a lot more to do and getting the Hellicarrier in the air was only the first step. Not to mention it might not be such a sacrifice.

Looking at the door in front of him, Furry grunted, "I'm not thrilled with the idea, but maybe it will be something I need to work on, again."

Glaring at the door, Fury just grunted as he turned and walked away. In moments he was gone, leaving the doorway behind him unopened. The lights in the hallway were still damaged and flickering here, but they revealed three large letters on the scorched door. This door had been sealed since the contents of laboratory behind it had been transferred here from their previous location. Those that knew about what was beyond the door either thought it a waste that the research had been stopped, or they wished it had never been started. Either way you looked at it, both sides had valid reasons for how they felt about it, but both agreed that the project should never be restarted now that it had been shutdown. So, sealed in one of the deepest portions of the massive carrier stood a door that waited to be opened with only three visible letters on it.

L.M.D.

* * *

AN: I know, I'm a jerk for making you wait this long, but in my defense I was trying to get a few more clues about the next Iron Man movie before calling this one to a close. Unfortunately, I never got the details I was really wanted, so it's time to just call in a wash and close this story so I can focus on other stories and projects. That leaves me with a quick and dirty ending and two PoV's that hint at what is still to come.

Oh, by the way, the whole damned chapter is a giant cliffhanger for a sequel. I felt the whole end of the Avengers movie was a cliffhanger, so the same has to be true for this story. We won't see the wedding, figure out who the mystery stalker is, or find out what an LMD (come on, you all have to remember them) until the second story.

Yep, I'm evil.

Still, it was a fun run and I can't wait to see where we go with the rest of it after the break. So, see you after May when the new Iron Man movie comes out.

Till then,

Chris :)


End file.
